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HUMILITYOF 

HEART 



:| From the Italian of 

;i FrCAJETAN MARY DA BERGAMO 

|| • " Gdeta^o Cepuhb 

i ~ ' " - ' ■ 

| - By 

HERBERT CARDINAL VAUGHAN 



THE NEWMAN BOOKSHOP 

WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND 

1944 



'.- ? - '._•/,; 






THE NEWMAN BOOKSHOP 
WESTMINSTER, MD. 



19944 



Printed in the Uniird Stair* of America 



To 
Tie PRIESTS ORDAINED by ME 

■fir the Diocese e/Silford 

4nd tie Jrchdioeese of Westminster 

and fir tie 

FOREIGN MISSIONS 

»4lso ta 

Tit LADIES efCHARTTY 

established bj me in 

SALFORD y WESTMINSTER 

In the CcnviB'un that 

tbeir IVcrij of Charity, if planted in 

tie Garden of HsmtTity 

Trill bear 

a Fuller and Rieler Harvest than if sow, in 

any ether Soil 



HERBERT CARDINAL VAUGHAK 

*Ankhhkip ef 'fPatminur 



Jfril 23, 1903 



PREFACE 

THESE "Thoughts and Sentiments on Hu-- 
mility " were written by Cardinal Vaughan 
during the last months of his life. Being ordered 
by his medical advisers out of London, the 
Cardinal went to Derwent, where, as the guest 
of Lord and Lady Edmund Talbot, he found 
that perfect freedom and multitude of peace of 
which he hadlong felt the need. 

It was while reposing his soul in quiet prayer 
and feasting his sight on the fine scenery of this 
ideal spot among the moorlands of Derbyshire 
that the thought came to him of translating' 
while yet there was time, Father Cajetan's treatise 
on Humility. 

For more than thirty years Cardinal Vaughan 
had known and studied that work, and it is 
scarcely an exaggeration to say he had made it ' 
during the last fourteen years of his life his con- 
stant companion, his W<? mccum. 

What lessons it had taught him, what sights 
it had shown him, what stories it had told him 
those only know to whom he revealed his inmost 
soul. However even those who knew the Cardinal 
less intimately could scarcely fail to realize in 
their dealings with him that they were treating 
with a man whose growing characteristic was 



{'; 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

humility of heart. A more truly humble man I 
have seldom, If ever, come across. It was the 
humility of a child, it was so sweet and simple, 
and yet so strong and saint-like — may I not 
"even venture to say, Christ-like? 

It was the sort of humility that could not go 
wrong, for it was founded on truth. It was truth. 
Docs not St Bernard remind us that "Humility 
is Truth"? It is a truth which, inasmuch as it is 
a. home-thrusting truth, none of us an afford to 
ignore. It is the truth all about oneself in one's 
triple alliance with God, with one's neighbour, 
with one's own soul. 

Humility may not inappropriately be called 
the starting post in that race for heaven of which 
the Apostle speaks. It is the terminus a quo in 
the spiritual lite. It is the first of the many lessons 
set before us in the school of sanctity — a diffi- 
cult lesson, I grant you, and one which nature 
seeks to shirk or to put off indefinitely, but for 
the man who means to graduate for heaven there 
S» no C$Capc k° m ' t# Accordingly our divine 
Master who is not exacting, reminds all His 
would-be followers, without distinction, that 
they must learn this lesson, get it well by heart, 
and into the heart; for Humility is the alphabet 
out of which every other virtue is formed and 
omit up. Itis the soil of the garden of the soul, 
Jrf 00 ,? g ro "nd" on which the divine Sower 
goes forth to sow His seed, 
viij 



PREFACE 
It is in the school of Christ, and from the 
lips of Christ Himself that we must learn Humi- 
lity. " Learn of Me, because I am meek and 
humble of heart." By following the Master 
Himself, by studying His own Heart, we have 
to acquire, to appreciate and to practise this 
first, this vital, this vitalizing, energizing virtue, 
without which no man can hope to make any 
progress at all on the Royal Road heavenward. 
So all-important for us creatures is the acqui- 
sition of Humility that our divine Lord became 
man in order to put before us in His own per- 
son this great object-lesson in its most attractive 
beauty. "He humbled Himself; "He emptied 
Himself"; He became the humblest of the hum- 
ble; because, as St Augustine points out, the 
"Divine Master was unwilling to teach what 
He Himself was not; He was unwilling to com- 
mand what He Himself did not practise." 

With our dear and blessed Lord as our great 
example of Humility, we may well, one and all 
of us, set about the practising, with some hope 
of success, this indispensable virtue — this maxi- 
mum bonum, as St Thomas calls it. ' 

To his own soul Cardinal Vaughan found so 
much benefit from the cultivation in it of Humi- 
lity, that he resolved, at no small cost to himself, 
in the feeble state in which he then was, to gird 
himself and to go forth sowing broadcast, into the 
soil of the hearts of the laity as well as of clergy, 



IX 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

this despised little mustard seed of which men 
speak so much but know so little. 

It was Padre Gactano's work on Humility 
that had been. the instrument, in God's hand, of 
helping the Cardinal. Accordingly in his zeal for 
souls he proposed to put it into English, so as to 
bring the work within the reach of all such as care 
for the health, growth and strength, of their own 
individual souls in solid virtue. 

That the Cardinal has left us a precious legacy 
in this treatise on Humility will, I feel sure, be 
the verdict of all who study, or who only peruse 
these pages, done into English from the Italian 
of the devout Minor Capuchin whose death oc- 
curred two centuries ago. 

Between the covers of this unpretending vo- 
lume there is nourishment for all who " hunger 
•andthirst after justice "—for the proficient in 
spiritual life as well as for the beginner— Humi- 
lity,as it were, holding in itself all those elements 
that are needed to build up the strong Christian 
man. In it the soul will find a sovereign remedy • 
tor its many ills, a matchless balm for its many 
wounds, while a soul-beauty all is own will spring 
up in all who shall learn howto use it wisely under 
the guidance of the HolySpirit/'Hewho is truly 
humble says St Bernard, "knows howtoconvert 
h»S r ll T ,0 " S , . nt0 humi %>" while out of 

mto. I ?a n°i 'T a S ° ul to what oth <™ise 
might be giddy he,ghts of sanctity. If any one 



PREFACE 

should need a proof of this statement I will refer 
him to any chapter in the life of any saint in our 
Calendar. For a moment gaze into the face of "the 
Woman clothed with the Sun "and remember the 
words, "Respexit humilitatem ancillae suae." The 
height of Mary's sanctity is gauged by the depth 
of her humility: "Exaltavit humiles." 

To theClergyand Ladies of Charity, to whom 
the Cardinal dedicates these "Thoughts and Senti- 
ments," this volume will come with very special 
meaning. It enshrines the last words of a great 
Churchman, of a truly spiritual man, while it con- 
veys a special message from the Cardinal's heart 
to all readers. 

This treatise is a sort of last will and testa- 
ment of Cardinal Vaughan, bequeathed to those 
with whom he was most intimately associated in 
work for the good of souls. It is a legacy from 
one who made Humility a life-long study, and 
who had more opportunities than most of us know 
of making tremendous strides in it, through the 
humiliations which he welcomed as most precious 
opportunities offered him by God for the salva- 
tion and sanctification of his soul. May he rest 
in peace. 

BERNARD VAUGHAN, S.J. 

Dernnt Hall, 

»f*ffut8, 1905. 



xj 



CONTENTS 

Thoughts and Sentiments I 

Practical Examen on the Virtue of Humility. ... 137 

Ezamen on Humility towards God 142 

Examen on Humility towards our Neighbour . . . 159 

Examen on Humility towards oneself ...... 171 

Moral Doctrine 182 



INTRODUCTION 

FATHER CAJETAN, or Padre Gaetano 
Maria da Bergamo, was one of the great 
.Italian Missionaries of the eighteenth century. 
Born in 1672 he was" professed a Minor Capu- 
chin in i692,anddjed in 1753. His eulogy, con- 
tained in the work on Illustrious Writers of the 
Order of Minor Capuchins is brief and pregnant: 
" In. religiosae vitae moribus nemini secundus, 
in omni genere scribendi facile primus." 

He was one of the reformers of the Italian 
pulpit, substituting for the vapid, empty rhetoric 
which prevailed, a solid, learned and instructive 
style, animated by zeal and real devotion. 

His religious works, written amid missions 
and courses of sermons, are contained in thirty 
volumes; of his writings Benedict XIV says that: 
" they have this rare quality in our day, that they 
satisfy the intellect and the heart; their solid doc- 
trine in noway dries up their tender devotion, and 
their devotional sweetness in noway detracts from 
the perfect solidity of their doctrine." He was a 
model Religious, remarkable for his charity, zeal 
and love for God and for souls, which he had built 
up in the solid foundation of profound humility, 
with which he united a tender devotion to the 
Blessed Virgin. 

XV 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
I confess that, though I have been in posses- 
sion of the Monza edition of his work for over 
thirty years, it was not till recently that 1 looked 
seriously into them. The first of his volumes is 
the one that has most struck me; and this I took 
up thirteen or fourteen years ago and have never 
put it down since. For it seems to supply so much 
of what the soul most needs, and which every one 
must feel that he can never possess sufficiently, 
if even he possess -it really at all, namely Humi- 
lity of Heart. • 

There is a great advantage in using such a 
book as this for two or three years consecutively 
as a meditation book. The human mind is so vola- 
tile, the character so restless, convictions are so 
slow in taking a deep and permanent hold on our 
practical life, that I have always considered that 
a retreat made upon one idea, and two or three 
years given to the meditation of one great subject 
is productive of more solid good than the follow- 
ing out of the ordinary system, which, of course, 
has it own advantages, commending it to the 
greater number. I venture even to think that for 
many persons living amidst the distractions of the 
world, such as priests engaged in the active min- 
istry, and devout men and women of the laity, 
who are deeply in earnest about the work of their 
sanctification, the persevering study of one book 
for years, such as the " Spiritual Combat," St 
Alphonsus on "Prayer," Blessed de Montfort 



INTRODUCTION 

on "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary," 
Padre Gaetano on "Humility of Heart," Palma 
on "The Passion," and certain other treatises 
which need not be named here,' is far more 
important than for recluses and good people 
living out of the world. We never get a proper 
hold of a great spiritual doctrine until we have 
lived in it and been saturated byit. The soul must 
soak in the brine until it has become wholly im- 
pregnated with its qualities. And is this process 
likely to be carried out by one who thirsts for 
variety and is always on the move towards some 
totally new sensation from the one that at present 
occupies his feelings? There is the question of 
breadth,- 1 know, as well as depth. But he who 
said "Times hominem unius libri" hit a truth 
that must be felt by every earnest soul. 

One need not fear that the constant handling 
of one book will dry up the mind, if the topic 
treated be one of primary importance, and ir it 
be the work of a master on the spiritual life. The 
number of thoughts and truths suggested by such 
a book are truly wonderful. It often will happen 
that far more is suggested than is actually put 
down by the hand of the writer. But to enjoy 
this result, you must have put away all hurry; 
you must have'said, "I am going to spend at 
least a year with this friend; I am going to take 
him not merely for a friend but for a master and 
a guide." I well remember how one night before 

XVlj 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
bed-time, reading my da Hcrgamo in the Chapel 
of St Itedc's College, a single line suggested this 
idea or train of thought: God in the Old and 
New Testament named people after their personal 
characteristics. Now, were I to name myself after 
my personal traits, I might name myself by the 
names of the seven capital sins. These arc the 
innate springs of evil within me. They are the 
heads and sources from which all other sins take 
their rise. They arc like the gall spots, the sour 
or iron oozings that often disfigure a whole field 
that has been neither drained nor cultivated. In- 
deed they arc much more mischievous and fatal 
than these, for they arc capable of overflowing and 
destroying everything that is good and profitable. 
The springs of these evil tendencies are so deeply 
imbedded in our nature that it is almost impos- 
sible to get rid of them altogether. The doing so 
is the work of a lifetime, unless we be able to get 
below the main well-spring of them all, and so 
inflict a permanent injury on them all. 1 may, 
therefore, take myself in hand thus, and say: "In 
the name of God I will call you what you really 
are, Tride, Cot>etousness, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, EiCfy, 
Sloth; and I will add to these seven capital sins, 
five other characteristics of my soul, viz.: Weak- 
ness, Ignorance, Poverty, T/ieft and Cruelty— twelve 
names which may not be the less appropriate, 
because 1 do not desire to be publicly known by 
them; twelve names that may bring home to me 
xviij 



INTRODUCTION 

home truths, and which maybe exceedingly good 
and valuable for private use. For the first thing 
is to begin by a profound knowledge of oneself, 
and of one's own miseries, though it may not be 
wise or prudent to begin by proclaiming one's sins 
to the world. Some of these names may be obvi- 
ously applicable to ourselves, such as Weakness, 
Ignorance and Poverty. For how weak and igno- 
rant are we, physically and morally! How depen- 
dent upon othersfor the thingsofcommonestuse! 
How poor, too, in grace and virtue, and every 
kind of excellence, especially if compared with 
many others. The title of Theft is not so very 
obvious, until we recognize that instead of giving 
glory to God for every good thing we may seem 
to do or to possess, we rob Him of this glory as 
much as we can, in the most natural and thought- 
less manner, and attribute to ourselves, and ap- 
propriate from others to ourselves, all the credit 
and glory of any little thing we do. He who 
makes this his habit may very deservedly be 
named a thief or Theft, calling himself by the 
act he is habitually doing, and is habitually 
famous for. But Cruelty, how is this name jus- 
tified? I have never been fond of giving pain 
to animals, at least not since I was a senseless 
child: why should 1 be called cruelty? We have 
only to remember and understand that by our sins 
we crucify again to ourselves the Son of God, to 
realize how well deserving we are of the name of 

xix 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
Cruelty. We give wanton pain to an animal, and 
we are punished by the law; we arc cruel to chil- 
dren, and we arc prosecuted; we inflict pain un- 
necessarily on our friends and dependents, and 
we are justly esteemed heartless brutes. It is only 
our Lord Jesus Christ, only our Lord God and 
Father in heaven, whom wc may treat with wan- 
ton injury and insult, disobedience and neglect, 
and escape without any name or mark of contempt 
and disapproval. I have but to consider my own 
share in the sorrows and passion and death of 
Jesus Christ, and how His Mother participated 
in all He suffered, to see how truly I have been 
a monster of Cruelty. And so it seems that in this 
simpleway, by merely repeating thoughtfully these 
our twelve Vicious names to ourselves wc may 
become each time a little better grounded in the 
truth inculcated by this admirable treatise. on 
" Humility of Heart." All this to some may seem 
fanciful, and they may brush it away as unworthy 
of consideration. But to others it will not be so, 
especially if they are given " to ponder over these 
things in their hearts." Such thoughts may be 
particularly serviceable at certain times. For in- 
stance, if you are receiving public homage and 
addresses in circumstances of unusual pomp and 
ceremony; or if you happen to be, from your posi- 
tion, the object of any other special veneration, 
and certain noxious fumes of vanity or self-com- 
placency be found ascending for a moment to 



xx 



INTRODUCTION 

your head an obvious remedy is to reflect that 
it is not yourself but your office that is receiving 
such special honour,ahd that any one else occupy- 
ing the same position would be the object of just 
the same respect. But better still than this will it 
be to call yourself quietly over by the twelve 
names drawn from your moral qualities and ten- 
dencies. The noxious gas is then extinguished; 
the decked-out worm that you are is crushed in 
its own exuding slime beneath your (set; and you 
realize at once that you are playing a part which 
receives honour due to your official, not to your 
private character. 

Of course it is only a small number who arc 
in a position to receive public honours and ad- 
dresses. But there is no one who is not the reci- 
pient from time to time of praise and admiration; 
and when this seems stinted in kind or quantity, 
our pride and self-love quickly rises up to supply 
the defect. It is on these occasions that the slow 
and measured recital to yourself of our twelve 
names will scatter the fumes of vanity, and leave 
you in the full enjoyment of a multitude of peace. 

But above all we priests have to bear in mind 
that as true representatives of Jesus Christ we 
must wear His livery and become truly meek and 
humble of heart. Without this He will not know 
us, except "afar off" — "et alta a longe cogno- 
scit." This humility must be consistent and of 
universal application. We must be humble with 

xxj 



*: 



Ill 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
our fellow-priests, and humble with those with 
whom we work. The priest is likened by Christ 
to a fisherman — a fisherman working with his 
nets, mending them, caring for them, using them 
to catch fish. He is not represented as fishing 
with a worm or as throwing the fly; but as work- 
ing with his net. The net used by us priests is a 
rational net, made up of good people who co- 
operate with us. Thus our I.ord Himself used 
the apostles and disciples and women, as well as 
preaching with His own mouth. The apostles did 
the same. Read the closing sentences to several 
of the Pauline Epistles to sec how many lay 
people, men and women, rich and poor, He used 
as forming part of His net to catch souls. 

There is a great need in the present day to 
make use of the Catholic laity in the salvation of 
souls. The priest must use them like a net held 
in his hand; he must care for his net, not be sur- 
prised if its meshes break from time to time and it 
they need to be mended. 

The rock on which the Ladies of Charity and 
other lay people, who are zealous to help the 
clergy.in apostolic work for souls, so often foun- 
der is one or other of the many forms of pride. 
They are unwilling to be guided, to be contra- 
dicted, to be restrained in their ardour. They see 
and above all/fc/ things so clearly, so keenly, that 
they cannot imagine that they arc gointj too fast, 
doing too much and perhaps spoiling other good 
xxij 



INTRODUCTION 

work done by persons who deserve consideration. 
They fully realize that they are impelled by 
zeal and enthusiasm, and that no one just now 
comes up to them; but they do not know and 
realize how unsteady and fickle they really are, 
and that it will require only a very moderate 
amount of coldness or contradiction to throw 
them off the line, and to discourage and fill them 
with such feelings of annoyance and indifference, 
as will lead them to throw up everything in dis- 
gust. Thus they end by doing more harm than 
they have done good. And all this because they 
are wanting in the first principles of humility. 
I should like every Lady of Charity to study this 
book well, to make it the foundation of her practi- 
cal life. The result would be that she would be- 
come secretly a saint before God, and that she 
would in the course of her life do ten times, a 
hundred times more than she could ever accom- 
plish without humility, "Humilia respicitin terra, 
et alta a longe cognoscit," says the Psalmist, when 
speaking oFGod's dealings with men. 

Like all good works the conversion and salva- 
tion of souls are really the work of the Holy 
Ghost. He employs means and instruments. 
Happy we if He employ us, if He associate us 
in this way with Himself. Do you desire to per- 
suade Him to use you ? Do you long to attract 
Him ? Well, there is no surer way than by the 
practice of humility. You must be humble towards 

xxiij 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
God, towards His visible representatives (for thus 
you prove your humility towards God), towards 
your fellow workers, and towards the people whom 
you must serve lovingly, humbly, patiently, as 
* though you were dealing with Christy 

1 have the strongest possible conviction that 
our Lord desires to be served, especially in a 
country like England, where we arc "the little 
flock," by a great development of religious acti- 
vity among the laity, acting in co-operation with 
and under the.guidancc of the clergy. But I am 
equally convinced that unless these new workers 
are formed on the humility of heart which our 
Lord told all of us to learn of Him they and their 
overtures will be rejected by God and man. It is 
« for this reason that I have dedicated this volume, 

written by a most holy and learned missionary, 
many times commended by zealous popes and 
bishops, to the Ladies of Charity as well as to the 
Priests for whose ordination 1 have been rcspon- 
iji . sible. :.* 



■ t\ 



XXIV 



HUMILITY OF THE 
HEART 

Thoughts and Sentiments on 
Humility 

IN Paradise there are many Saints who never 
gave alms on earth : their poverty justified 
them. There are many Saints who never 
mortified their bodies by fasting, or wearing hair 
shirts: their bodily infirmities excused them. 
There are many Saints too who were not virgins : 
their vocation was otherwise. But in Paradise 
there is no Saint who was not humble. 

God banished angels from heaven for their 
pride ; therefore how can we pretend *to enter 
therein, if we do not keep ourselves in a state of 
humility? Without humility, says St Peter Da- 
mian,* not even the Virgin Mary herself with 
her incomparable virginity could have entered 
into the glory of Christ, and we ought to be con- 
vinced of this truth that, though destitute of 
some of the other virtues, we may yet be saved, 
but never without humility. There are people 
who flatter themselves that they have done much 

• S«nn. 45. 
I 






HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

byprcscrving unsullied chastity, and truly chastity 
is a beautiful adornment ; but as the angelic St 
Thomas says: "Speaking absolutely, humility 
excels virginity."* 

We often study diligently toguard against and 
correct ourselves of the vices of concupiscence 
which belong to a sensual and animal nature, 
and this inward conflict which the body wages 
adversus tarntm f is truly a spectacle worthy of 
God andof Hisangels. But, alas, how rarely do we 
use this diligence and caution to conquer spiri- 
tual vices, of which pride is. the first and the 
greatest of all, and which sufficed of itself to 
transform an angel into a demon I 

2. Jesus Christ calls us all into His school to 
learn, not to work miracles nor to, astonish the 
world by marvellous enterprises, but to be humble 
of heart. "Learn of Me, because I am meek and 
humble of heart." % He has not called every one 
to be doctors, preachers or priests, nor has He 
bestowed on all the gift of restoring sight to the 
blind, healing the sick, raising the dead or cast- 
ing out devils, but to all He has said: "Learn 
of Me to be humble of heart," and to all He 
has given the power to learn humility of Him. 
Innumerable things are worthy of imitation in 
the Incarnate Son of God, but He only asks us 

(4 d^o. *„,„, art. 3 a* 6; et „. qu . eW . att . 5 .) 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
to imitate His humility. What then ? Must we 
suppose that all the treasures of Divine Wis- 
dom which were in Christ are to be reduced to 
the virtue of humility? "So it certainly is,"* 
answers St Augustine. Humility contains all 
things because in this virtue is truth; therefore 
God must also dwell therein, since He is the 
truth. 

The Saviour might have said : "Learn of Me 
to be chaste, humble, prudent, just, wise, abste- 
mious, etc" But He only says: "Learn of Me, 
because I am meek and humble of heart" ; and in 
humility alone He includes all things, because, 
as St Thomas so truly says, "Acquired humility 
is in a certain sense the greatest good."f There- 
fore whoever possesses this virtue may be said, 
as to his proximate disposition, to possess all 
virtues, and he who lacks it, lacks all. 

3. Reading the works of St Augustine we 
find in them all that his sole idea was the exal- 
tation of God above the creature as far as pos- 
sible, and as far as possible the humble subjec- 
tion of the creature to God. The recognition of 
this truth should find a place in every Christian 
mind, thus establishing — according to the acute- 
ness and penetration of our intelligence — a sub- 
lime conception of God, and a lowly and vile 

• Ita 'plane. (Lib. de sancta rirginii. c. xxxv.) 
t Humilitas acquisita est maximum bonum secundum 
quid. {Lib. de Vert'/, qu. 1. art. L ad 3: et art. 19 ad 7.) 

3 



',r : - 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

conception of the creature. But vvc can only suc- 
ceed in doing this by humility. 

Humility is in reality a confession of the 
greatness of God, who after His voluntary self- 
annihilation was exalted and glorified ; wherefore 
Holy Writ says : " For great is the power of God 
alone, and He is honoured by the humble."* 

It was for this reason that God pledged 
Himself to exalt the humble, and continually 
showers new graces upon them in return for.the 
glory He constandy receives from them. Hence 
the inspired word again reminds us : " Be humble, 
and thou shalt obtain every grace from God."f 

The humblest man honours God most by his 
humility, and has the reward of being more glori- 
fied by God, who has said: "Whoever honours 
Me, I will glorify him." J Oh, if we could only 
see howgreat .is the glory of the humble in heaven I 

4. Humility is a" virtue that belongs essen- 
tially to Christ, not only as man, but more especi- 
ally as God, because with God to be good, holy and 
merciful is not virtue but nature, and humility is 
only a virtue. God cannot exalt Himself above 
what He is, in His most high Being, nor can He 
increase His vast and infinite greatness ; but He 
ca»i humiliate Himself as in fact He did humiliate 
and lower Himself. « He humbled Himself, He 
.emptied Himself," § revealing. Himself to us, 
* Ecclus iii, 2,. t Ecclus Hi, 20 . I , Kings H, 30. 
§ Phil. 11, 7, 8. 
4 



I; 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
through His humility, as the Lord of all virtues, 
the conqueror of the world, of death, hell and sin. 

No greater example of humility can be given 
than that of the Only Son of God when " the 
Word was made Flesh." Nothing could be more 
sublime than the words of St John's Gospel, "In 
the beginning was the Word." And no abase- 
ment can be deeper than that which follows: 
"And the Word was made Flesh." By this union 
of the Creator with the creature the Highest was 
united with the lowest. Jesus Christ summed up 
all His heavenly doctrine in humility, and before 
teaching it, it was His will to practise it per- 
fectly Himself. As St Augustine says: "He was 
unwilling to teach what He Himself was not, He 
was unwilling to command what He Himself did 
not practise." * ' 

But to what purpose did He do all this if not 
that by this means all His followers should learn 
humility by practical example ? He is our Mas- 
ter, and we are His disciples; but what profit do 
we derive from His teachings, which are prac- 
tical and riot theoretical ? 

How shameful it would be for any one, after 
studying for many years in a school of art or 
science, under the teaching of excellent masters, 
if he were still to remain absolutely ignorant I 
My shame is great indeed, because Ihave lived 

. * "Noluit docere quod ipse non esset, noluit jubere quod 
>pse non faceret." (Lib. de Sand. Virginit. cap. xxxvi.) 

5 






HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

. so many years in the school of Jesus Christ, and 
yet I have learnt nothing of that holy humility 
which He sought so earnestly to teach mc. "Have 
mercy upon mc according to Thy Word. Thou 
art good,and in Thy goodness teach mcThy justi- 
fications. Give mc understanding, and I will learn 
Thy commandments." * 

5. There is a kind of humility which is of 
counsel and of perfection such as that which de- 
sires and seeks the contempt of others ; but there 
is also a humility which is of necessity and of 
precept, without which, says Christ, we cannot 
enter into the .kingdom of heaven : "Thou slialt 
not enter into the kingdom of heaven." f And 
this consists in not esteeming ourselves and in 
not wishing to be esteemed by others above what 
we really are. 

No one can deny this truth, that humility is 
|j? essential to all those who wish to be saved. "No 

fj on e reaches the kingdom of heaven except by 

I j humility," says St Augustine.^ " 

I • .But, I ask, what is practically this humility 

j which is so necessary? When we arc told that 

faith and hope arc necessary, it is also explained 
to us what we are to believe and to hope. In 
like manner, when humility is said to be neces- 



■»;» 



1 t 



1 :?f:" vn ^.58,68.73. 



t Matt, xviii, 3. 

.in! "v^ d .. re ? n r u .7 > ^o™™ nemo venit nisi per humilitatem 
sinealus." \Ltl>. de Salut. cap. xxxii.) 

6 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
sary, in what should its practice consist except 
in the lowest opinion of ourselves? It is in this 
moral sense that the- humility of the heart has 
been explained by the fathers of the Church. 
But can I say with truth that I possess this hu- 
mility which I recognize as necessary and obli- 
gatory ? What care or solicitude do I display to 
acquire it? When a virtue is of precept, so is its 
practice also, as St Thomas teaches. And there- 
fore, as there is a humility which is of precept, 
"it has its rule in the mind, viz., that one is not 
to esteem oneself to be above that which one 
really is."* 

How and when do I practise its acts, acknow- 
ledging and confessing my unworthiness before 
God ? The following was the frequent prayer of 
St Augustine, "Noscam Te, noscam me — May I 
know Thee; may I know myself 1 " and by this 
prayer he asked for humility, which is nothing 
else but a true knowledge of God and of one- 
self. To confess that God is what He is, the 
Omnipotent, "Great is the Lord, and exceed- 
ingly to be praised," f and to declare that we are 
but nothingness before Him: "My substance is 
as nothing before Thee"^ — this is to be humble. 

6. There is no valid excuse for not being 
humble, because we have always, within and with- 

• " Et regulam habet in cognitione, ut scilicet aliquis non 
se existimet supra id esse quod est." (22, qu. xvi, 2, art. 6.) 
t Ps. xlvii, i. J Ps. xxxviii, 6. 

7 






.■ HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
out, abundant reasons Tor humility: "And thy 
humiliation shall be in the midst of thec." It is 
the Holy Ghost who sends us this warning by 
the mouth of His prophet Michcas." * 

When we consider well what we arc in body, 
and what we arc in soul, it seems to me most easy 

to humble oneself, and even most difficult to be 
proud. To be humble it suffices that I should 
nourish within myself that right feeling which 
belongs to every man who is honourable in the 

eyes of the world, to be content with one's own 
without unjustly depriving our neighbour of what 
is his. Therefore, as I have nothing of my own 
i but my own nothingness, it is sufficient for hu- 

mility that I should be content with this nothing- 
ness. But if I am proud, I become like a thief, 
appropriating to myself that which -is not mine 
but God's. And most assuredly it is a greater sin 
to rob God of that which belongs to God than to 
rob man of that which is man's. 

To be humble let us listen to the revelation 
of the Holy Ghost which is infallible. "Behold 
you are nothing, and your work is of that which 
hath no being."t But who is really convinced of 
his own nothingness? 

; It is for this reason that in holy Scripture it 
is said :« Every man is a liar." t For there is no 
man who from time to time does not entertain 
some incredible self-esteem, and form some false 
•*». '4- tlsa. xli.24. jp s . Mv a . 
8 



( 

"1 * 

V 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

opinion as to his being, or haying, or achieving 
something more than is possible to his own no- 
thingness. 

To know what our body is in reality, it will 
suffice for us to look into the grave, for, from 
what we sec there, we must inevitably conclude 
that as it is with those decayed bodies, so it will 
soon be with us. And with this reflection I must 
say to myself: "Why is earth and ashes proud ?"* 
"Behold the glory of man ! for his glory is dung 
and worms ; to-day he is lifted up, and to-morrow 
he shall not be found, because he is returned into 
his earth, and his thought is come to nothing."! 

O my soul, without going further to seek 
truth, enter in thought into the heart of thy 
dwelling which is thy body! "Go in and shut 
thyself up in the midst of thy house."^: Go in 
and look well around thee, and thou shalt find 
nothing but corruption. " Go into the clay and 
tread." § Wherever thou turnest thou wilt see no- 
thing but putrefaction oozing forth. 

In order to learn what we really are, let us 

examine our own conscience. And finding therein 

only our own. malice and a capacity to commit 

every kind of iniquity, shall we not all say to 

ourselves : "Why dost thou glory in malice, thou 

that art mighty in iniquity ?" I What hast thou of 

thine own, my soul, wherewith to glorify thyself 

* Ecclus x, p. f i Mach. ii, 6a. 63. t Ezec. iii, 24. 
JNahum iti, 14. |j Ps. Ii, 1. 

9 



: 



■f.'i- 



i !■ i * Gen. ill 



1 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

— thou who art a vessel of iniquity, and a sink 
of sin and vice ? Is not all this self-glorification — 
whether it be for thy bodily or spiritual gifts 
that thou buildest a reputation for thyself — but 
vanity and deceit ? 

Oh, how true it is that every man is a Jiar, for 
one need have but little pride in order to be a 
liar, and there is no one who has not inherited 
through our first parents something of that pride 
which they learned in listening to the deceitful 
promise of the serpent: "And you shall be all 
Gods."* 

Again it may be said that every man is a liar 
in this sense — that he not infrequently prizes 
earth more than heaven, the body more than the 
soul, things temporal more than thi ngs eternal, the 
creature more than the Creator— and it is for this 
reason that David exclaims : " O ye sons of men, 
why do ye love vanity and seek after lying ?"f 
"The sons of men are liars in the balances."! 

But in reality a lie dwells essentially in that 
pride which makes us esteem ourselves above 
what we are. Whoever regards himself as more 
than mere nothingness is filled with pride, and is a 
liar, it is St Paul's statement : « If any man think 

Every time I esteem myself, preferring my- 

5 Gal. vi, 3. 
IO 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

self to others, I deceive myself with this self- 
adulation, and commit an error against truth. 

8. It is enough for a virgin to have fallen 
once for her to lose her virginity; and for a wife 
to have been but once unfaithful for her to be 
perpetually dishonoured ; even though she may 
afterwards perform many noble works, still her 
dishonour can never be effaced, and the sting 
and painful memory of her shame and guilt 
must remain for ever in her conscience. 

And thus, even though in the whole course of 
my life .1 have only committed one sin, the fact 
will always remain that I have sinned and com- 
mitted the worst and most ignominious action. 
And even if I should live a life of continual 
penance, and be certain of God's forgiveness, 
and though the sin exist no longer in my con- 
science, still I shall always have cause for shame 
and humiliation in the fact that I have sinned: 
" My sin is always before me, I have sinned and 
done evil in Thy sight."* 

9. What should we say if we saw the public 
executioner walking in the streets and claiming 
to be esteemed, respected and honoured? We 
should consider his effrontery as insufferable as 
his calling is infamous. And thou, my soul, each 
time that thou hast sinned mortally thou hast in- 
deed been as an executioner, nailing to the cross 
the Son of God ! Thus St Paul describes sinners 

•Ps.1.5.6. 



;) 

%i ! 

ft: 1 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
as "crucifying again to themselves the Son of 

God."* 

And with this character of infamy which thou 
bearest within thee, dost thou still dare to demand 
honour and esteem ? Wilt thou still have the cou- 
rage to say: " I insist upon being honoured and 
respected, I will notbeslightcd" ? Howevermuch 
pride may tempt me to boast and seek esteem, 
I have ample cause to blush with shame when I 
hear the voice of conscience reproaching mc for 
my ignominy and my sins, and not ceasing to 
reprove me for being a perfidious and ungrate- 
ful rebel against God, a traitor and an executioner 
who co-operated in the passion and death of Jesus 
Christ. "All the day long my shame is before mc, 
and the confusion of my face hath covered me at 
the voice of him that reproacheth me."t 

io. We must acknowledge that one of the 
five reasons why we do not live in this necessary 
humility is because we do not fear the justice of 
God. Look at a criminal, how humbly he stands 
before the judge, with lowered eyes, pallid face 
and bowed head : he knows that he has been con- 
victed of atrocious crimes ; he knows that thereby 
he has merited capital punishment, and may justly 
be condemned to the gallows, and hence he fears, 
and his fear keeps him humble, chasing from his 
brain all thought of ambition and vain-glory. So 
the soul, conscious of the numerous sins it has 
•Heb.vi.6. t Ps. xliii, 16, 17. 



12 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
committed, aware that it has indeed deserved hell, 
and that from one moment to another it may be 
condemned to heir by divine justice, fears the 
wrath of God, and this fear causes the soul to 
remain humble before Him ; and if it does not 
feel this humility, it can only be because the fear 
of God is wanting": "There is no fear of God 
beforehis eyes."* Oh,cry to God from your heart : 
"Pierce Thou my ficsh with Thy fear."f 

And this holy fear which is the beginning of 
wisdom will also be the beginning of true humi- 
lity ; for, as the inspired Word says, humility and. J 
wisdom are inseparable companions: "Where 
humility is, there also is wisdom."^ 

ii. There is no saint however holy and in- 
nocent who may not truly consider himself the 
greatest sinner in the world. It is enough that 
he knows himself to be man to recognize that he 
is liable to commit all the evil of which man is 
capable. As man, I have in my corrupt nature a 
proclivity to every evil ; and so far as I am con- 
cerned I am quite capable of committing all kinds 
of sin,and if I do not commit them it is through 
a special grace of God which preserves and re- 
strains me. 

A tree does not fall while bending under its 
own weight, and this must be attributed to the 
strength of its support ; and in the same way if 
I have not fallen into every kind of iniquity, it 

* Ps. xxxv, i. t Ps. cxviii, 120. % Prov. xi, 2. 
>3 



J' 



it 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
must not be attributed to my own inherent virtue 
but only to divine grace, which by its goodness 
has supported me. Therefore how can I esteem 
myself more than another whilst wc are all equal 
in human weakness ?" For what is my strength ? "• 
I am a son of Adam like every other man, born m 
sin, inclined to sin, and ever ready to fall into sin. 
I have no need of the devil to tempt mc to sin ; my 
own concupiscence'is only too great a temptation ; 
and if God were to withdraw from mc His pro- 
tecting and helping hand, I know that I should 
be precipitated headlong from bad to worse. 
When St Augustine made his examen of con- 
science, he did not always find sufficient to ex- 
cite within him sorrow and contrition, so he dwelt 
on those sins which he- might or would have 
committed had he not been preserved from them 
by God's infinite mercy; and he grieved and ac- 
cused himself and humbly implored pardon of 
God for the evil capacity he had to commit all 
kinds of heinous and impious sins. In this prac- 
tice is to be found an exercise of true humility. 
12. It has often happened that those who. 
were more perfect than others have shamefully 
fallen, and this after a long period of good and 
virtuous works, showing the marvellous things 
that a man can do when helped by God's special 
grace, and who by their terrible fall have also 
testified to the iniquities of which a man is cap- 
* Jobvi, ii. 
14 ' 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

able if abandoned to himself and left to the weak- 
ness of his own free-will. 

God has shown His creative omnipotence by 
forming me out of nothing and making me a hu- 
man being. Were God to withdraw his omnipo- 
tent preserving hand from me I should at once 
show what I am capable of when left to myself, 
by returning immediately into my nothingness. 
And, in the order of grace, the nothingness into 
which I relapse when left to myself is sin. How 
often " I am brought to nothing, and I knew 
not."* And what can I find to be proud of in 
that nothingness? 

Give me grace, O my God, to know myself 
only as much as-is necessary to keep me humble! 
for if I fully realized the insignificance of my own 
being and the extent of my malice which is cap- 
able of offending Thee in divers inconceivable 
ways, I fear I should be so filled with horror at 
myself that I should give way to despair I 

We have within ourselves, in our own ex- 
perience and feelings,a knowledge of how greatly 
our frail and fallen nature is inclined to evil. To- 
day we go and confess certain of our faults, making 
the resolution not to fall into them again, and to- 
morrow notwithstanding we commit them once 
more. 

. At one moment we make up our minds to 
acquire a certain virtue, and the next we do just 
• Ps. lxxii, 21. 
»5 



I. 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
the contrary by falling into the opposite vice. At 
the time when we make these resolutions ofamend- 
ment we imagine that our will is firm and strong 
but we soon perceive how weak and unreliable it 
is, for we behave as though we had never pur- 
posed amendment at all. 

Our'heart is like a reed that bends before 
every wind, or a barque tossed by every wave. 
It is sufficient to meet with an occasion of sin, a 
movement of passion, a breath of temptation, for 
the will to yield to evil even when in certain mo- 
ments of fervour we seem most firmly rooted in 
good. This is a strong reason for us to be humble 
and not to presume anything of ourselves, pray- 
ing to God continually that He may deign to con- 
firm in our hearts that which He works through 
His grace. " Confirm, O God, what Thou hast 
wrought in us."* 

Some masters of the spiritual life teach that 
it is better to divert our thoughts from certain 
heroic actions in which our weakness might lead 
us to doubt whether we should succeed or not ; 
for example : if a persecutor should come and 
summon me either to renounce the faith or to 
die, how should I act? or, if I were to receive a 
terrible public insult, should I practise patience 
or resentment? No, they say it is not well to in- 
dulge in such imaginings because our weakness 
may cause us to fall before the idea of such a trial. 
* P». Ixvii, ao. 
16 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
But should such thoughts arise, we can turn them 
to our good and use our very weakness to prac- 
tise humility. When such ideas occur it would be 
well to say : I know what I ought to do on such 
and such an occasion, but I know not how far I 
can trust myself, because I know by personal ex- 
perience that "my strength is weakened through 
poverty,"* and I have learnt on several occasions 
how my reason becomes blinded, my judgement 
weakened, and my will often perverted easily to 
evil. O my God, I can do all things if I am 
strengthened by Thy help; but without this I 
can do nothing, nor shall I ever be able to do any- 
thing 1 If I had to confess Thee I should mise- 
rably deny Thee ; if to honour Thee by patience 
I should give way to vengeance ; if I had to obey 
Thee I* should offend Thee by disobedience. 
"Thou art a strong helper : when my strength 
shall fail, do not Thou forsake me."t Thy say- 
ing is quite true; O my God: "Without Me 
you can do nothing." J Not only without Thee 
can I never do any meritorious act of virtue 
whatsoever, but I cannot do anything at all ; as 
St Augustine instructs me : " Whether it be little 
or whether it be great, it cannot be done without 
Him without whom nothing can be done."§ 

15. A beautiful way ot asking humility of 

God was the following which was used by a great 

• Ps. xxx. u. f Ps. lxx, 7, 9. t John * v 5- 
$ " Sive parum sive multum sine illo fieri non potest." 
(Tract. 31 in Joan.) 

«7 



In 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
saint. Lord, he said, I do not even know what 
humility is like, but I know that I do not pos- 
sess it, and cannot of myself obtain it ; and that 
unless I have it .1 shall not be saved ; therefore it 
only remains for me to ask it of Thee, but give 
me the grace to ask it as I ought. Thou hast 
promised, O my God, to grant mc all those things 
which I shall ask of Thee and which arc neces- 
sary to my eternal salvation ; and humility being 
most necessary to mc, faith compels me to be- 
lieve that Thou "wilt grant me this, if I know 
how to ask it of Thee. But herein lies the diffi- 
culty, because I know not how to ask Thee as I 
ought. Teach me and help mc that I may pray 
to Thee as Thou dost wish mc to pray and in 
that efficacious manner in" which Thou Thyself 
knowest that I shall be heard. And as Thou com- 
mandest'me to be humble, I am ready to obey; 
but grant that through Thy help I may in truth 
become such as Thou dost desire. I ardently dc- 
, sire to be humble, and from whence comes this 
love and desire for humility if not from Thee, 
who hast put it into my heart by Thy holy grace ? 
Oh, of Thy goodness grant mc therefore what 
Thou hast made me so love and desire. I hope for 
it, and I will continue to hope for it. "Strengthen 
me, O Lord God, that, as Thou hast promised, 1 
may bring to pass that which I have purposed, 
having a belief that it might be done by Thee."* 
• Judith xiii, 7. 



Ill lb 

In 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

1 6. We may persuade ourselves that we pos- 
sess various virtues, because we have a tangible 
proof within us that we really have them. Thus 
we may judge ourselves to be chaste, because 
we feel really attracted to chastity ; or we may 
think ourselves abstemious, because we are 
so by nature ; or obedient, because we practise a 
ready obedience. But however much a man may 
exercise humility, he can never form any judge- 
ment as to his being really humble, for he who 
thinks himself humble is no longer so. 

In the same way that to recognize that we are 
proud is the beginning of humility, so to flatter 
ourselves that we are humble is the beginning 
of pride, and the more humble we think our- 
selves the greater is our pride. That self-com- 
placency which the heart feels, making us imagine 
that we are humble in consequence of some agree- 
able reflections we have had about ourselves, is a 
species of vanity ; and how can vanity exist with 
humility which is founded solely on truth? Vanity 
is nothing but a lie, and it is precisely from a lie 
that pride springs. 

Let us pray to God with the prophet : " Let 
not the foot of pride come to me." *. Grant, O my 
God, that I may be humble, but that I may not 
know that I am humble. Make me holy, yet 
ignorant of holiness; for if I should learn to know 
or even to imagine myself holy, I should become 

* Ps. XXXV, 12. 
»9 



j-;' 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

vain; and through vanity should lose all humility • 

and holiness. ' ... . . . : 

17. From, what has just been said it is pos- 
sible that a tormenting doubt might arise in the 
mind of some one who might say: If I must judge 
myself to be wanting in humility, I must conclude 
that I am lost, and such a judgement would lead 
me to despair. But do you not perceive the error ? 
To speak wisely you ought to say : I know I am 
wanting in humility; therefore I must try and 
obtain it; for .without humility I am a reprobate, 
and it is necessary to be humble in order to be 
among the electi 

There would indeed be cause for despair if 
on the one hand humility wercnecessary for salva- 
tion and on the other it were unattainable. But 
nothing is more natural to us than humility, be- 
cause we are drawn towards it by our own misery; 
and nothing is easier, since ifis enough for us to 
open our eyes and to know ourselves ; this is not 
a virtue we need go far to seek, as we can always 
find it within ourselves, and we have an infinity 
of good reasons in ourselves for doing so. Never- 
theless we must labour as long as life lasts to ac- 
quire humility, nor must we ever. imagine that 
we have acquired it; and even should we have 
obtained it in some degree, we must still continue 
to strive after it as though we did not possess it,in 
order that we maybe able to keep it. Let us have 
a true desire to be humble; let us not cease to im- 



20 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

Elorc God that He may give us the grace to be 
umblc ; and let us often study the motives that 
may help to make us humble of heart ; and let 
us not doubt the divine Goodness, but conform 
to the advice given us in Holy Writ: "Think 
of the Lord in goodness."* 

1 8. Although we feel the humiliation keenly 
when we are insulted, persecuted or calumniated, 
this does not mean that we cannot suffer such 
trials with sentiments of true humility, subject- 
ing nature to reason and faith and sacrificing the 
resentment of our self-love to the love of God. 
We are not made of stone, so that we need be 
insensible or senseless in order to be humble. Of 
some martyrs we read that they writhed under 
their torments ; of others that they more or less 
rejoiced in them, according to the greater or less 
degree of unction they received from the Holy 
Ghost ; and all were rewarded by the crown of 
glory, as it is not the pain or the feeling that 
makes the martyr but the supernatural motive of 
virtue. In the same way some humble persons 
feel pleasure in being humiliated, and some feel 
sadness, especially when weighed down with ca- 
lumny; and yet they all belong to the sphere 
of the humble, because it is not the humiliation 
nor the suffering alone which makes the soul 
humble, but the interior act by which this same 
humiliation is accepted and received through 

• Sap. F, i. 
21 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
motives of Christian humility and especially of a 
desire to resemble Jesus Christ, who, though en- 
titled to all the honours the world could offer 
Him, bore humiliation and scorn for the glory 
of His eternal Father : « For Thy sake, O God of 
Israel, I have borne reproach." * 

The doctrine of St Bernard is worthy of our 
notice : It is one thing to be humiliated, and an- 
other to be humble. It often happens that the 
proud man is humiliated, yet he nevertheless re- 
mains proud, receiving humiliations with anger 
and contempt, doing all he can to escape them 
with fretful impatience. It sometimes happens 
too that the proud man becomes humble; the 
humiliation teaching him to know himself as he 
is, and by this knowledge he learns to love this 
very humiliation : "He is humble who converts 
all his humiliations into humility and says unto 
God: 'It is good for me that Thou hast humbled 
nie. . j 

19. In the spiritual life I can promise myself 
nothing without the special help of God ; and 
most true is the teaching of the Holy Ghost : 
"Thy help is only in Me."^ From one moment 
to another I may fall into mortal sin: conse- 
quendy, even though I may have laboured many 

• Ps. lxviii, 8. 

-tit '! Est aut 5' n . h " miIis S ui humiliationem convertit in hu- 
nuhtatem, et dictt Deo: Bonura mihi quia humiliasti me." 
{D Bern, serm. 34 in Cant.) H 

X Osee xui, 9. . ' 

22 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
years in acquiring virtues, I may in one instant 
lose all the good I have done, lose all my merit 
for eternity, and lose even that blessed eternity , 
itself. How can a king rule with arrogance, when 
he is besieged by his enemies and from day to 
day runs the risk of losing his kingdom and 
ceasing to be a king? And has not a saint abun- 
dant reasons, from the thought of his own weak- 
ness, to live always in a state of great humility, 
when he knows that from one hour to another 
he may lose the grace of God and the kingdom # 
of heaven which he has merited by years of la- 
boriously-acquired virtues? "Unless the Lord 
build the house, they labour in vain that build it."* 

However spiritual and holy a man may be, 
he cannot regard himself as absolutely secure. 
The angels themselves, enriched with sanctity, 
were not safe in paradise. Man, endowed with 
innocence, was not safe in his earthly paradise. 
What safety therefore can there be for us with 
our corrupt nature, amid so many perils and so 
many enemies, who within and without are ever 
seeking. insidiously to undermine our eternal 
salvation? 

In order to be eternally damned it is enough 
I should follow the dictates of nature, but to be 
saved it is necessary that divine grace should pre- 
vent and accompany me, should follow and help 
me, watch over me, and never abandon me. Oh, 

• Ps. exxvi, i. 

23 . 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

how right therefore was St Paul in exhorting us 
to "work out our salvation" — which is for all 
eternity— "with fear and trembling" 1 * 

20. To be contented and self-satisfied, to lead 
a quiet, easy-going life, accomplishing only what 
duty prescribes, is not a good sign. After having 
done all that our Christian profession requires 
of us, our Lord nevertheless wishes us to con- 
sider ourselves useless servants of His Church: 
"So you also, when you shall have done all things 
commanded you, say: We arc unprofitable ser- 
vants."t Therefore how much more useless we 
ought to consider ourselves, if we live in tepidity 
and sloth, by which we arc still so far removed 
from that perfection to which wc arc bound I 

When I make my examen of conscience do 
1 find that I fulfil all my duties in the sight of 
God? What virtue have I acquired hitherto? 
It may be said that we have acquired the habit of 
such and such a virtue when we come to practise 
it willingly and with facility; but when I examine 
myself, what virtue can I find which I habitually 
practise with pleasure and facility ? I cannot find 
even one. I am a most unprofitable servant on 
earth ; and if 1 were now called before the tribu- 
nal of my eternal Judge, I much fear that it 
would be said to me: "Thou wicked servant,"! 
and not "Well done, thou good and faithful 
servant. § . 

' Phil, ii, , 2 . f Luke xvii. io. J Matt, xviii. 32. 
5 Mart, xxv, 3i. 
* *4 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
• 21. In a country where, all arc blind it is 
sufficient for a man to have but one eye for him 
to be said to have good sight, and amongst a 
multitude of ignorant people one need possess 
but a slight tinge of knowledge to acquire the 
reputation of being very learned; and in the same 
way in this \vickcd and corrupt world it is easy 
to flatter ourselves that we arc good, if we are not 
quite so bad as many others. " I am not as the 
rest of men."* It was in this way that the Phari- 
see praised himself in the temple. 

But in order to know ourselves as wc really 
are, it is not with worldly-minded people that 
wc ought to compare ourselves, but with Jesus 
Christ, who is the model for all those who arc 
predestinated. "Look," says St Paul to every 
one of us, quoting the words that were said to 
Moses, "Look and make it according to the 
pattern that was shown thee on the mount." f 

How have I conformed my life to the life of 
the Incarnate Son of God, who came to teach me 
the way to heaven by His example? Ascend, O my 
soul, to the hill of Calvary, and gaze attentively 
upon thy crucified Saviour! To this each one of 
us must conform in his own state of life if he 
wishes to be saved; such being the decree of the 
eternal Father, that the predestinated must " be 
made conformable to the image of His Son."^ 

But can I truthfully and conscientiously say 
•Lukexviii, ii. f Heb. viii, 5. t R°n>- viii. 29. 
25 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
that I imitate Him? In what way? Let mc 
examine myself. Ah, how different I am from 
Him I And what just cause I find in this examen 
to humble mysclfl In comparing myself with 
sinners I think myself a saint; but in comparing 
myself with Jesus Christ, whom I ought to imi- 
tate, I - am compelled to acknowledge that I am 
a sinner and a reprobate ; and the only consola- 
tion left to meis to trust in the infinite mere}' of 
God. "0 God, my support and my deliverer."* 
22. Read the lives of the saints, and consider 
whose life your own most resembles : what de- 
gree of sanctity do you possess? If vou were 
to die at this moment, to what part of Paradise 
would you think yourself destined? Perhaps 
amongst the innocents ? No one is innocent 
who has committed even one mortal sin; and 
you— have you still in your soul your baptismal 
innocence? Perhaps, therefore, amongst the peni- 
tents? But where is your penitence when, far 
from seeking self-mortification, you seek in all 
things to please yourself? Do you think you 
deserve to be numbered amongst the martyrs ? 
I will not speak of the shedding of blood; 
but where is even your patience to suffer only 

w S iT> teSt tr0ub,e or ad versity in this miser- 
able life? Do you judge yourself worthy to be 
ranked wnh the virgins? But are you pure 
>n body and mind? St Anthony, the abbot, after 

* Pa. cjliii, 2. 
26 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

having laboured many years to perfect him- 
self in holiness by imitating the virtues of all 
the most illustrious anchorites, found much to 
humble himself when he heard of St Paul, the 
first hermit, and felt that in comparison with this 
holy man he himself had nothing of the religious 
left in him. O my soul, come too, and compare 
thyself with the saints. " Call to remembrance 
the works of the fathers which they have done 
in their generations," * and thou wilt find innu- 
merable occasions for humbling thyself in per- 
ceiving how far thou art from holiness. It is all 
very well to say: I do nothing wrong. To be 
saved, it is not enough not to do evil, but one 
must also do good. "Avoid evil, and do good."f 
It is not enough not to be a sinner by profession, 
but it is necessary to be holy by profession. 
" Follow holiness, without which no man shall 
see God."! 

23. Examine those virtues which you imagine 
that you possess. Have you prudence, tempe- 
rance, fortitude, justice, modesty, humility, chas- 
tity, humbleness of spirit, charity, obedience, 
and many other virtues that may be necessary or 
suitable to your condition? If you have a few 
of these, in what degree do you possess them ? 

But I will say more: and that is, examine 

yourself first, and see whether you really have 

this virtue that you think you possess. What 

* Mach. n, S1 . + ft. xxsy \ t 37 . j H e b. x ;j f , 4> 

27 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

I mean to say is: is it a real virtue, or perhaps 
only a disposition of your natural temperament, 
be it melancholy, sanguine or phlegmatic? And 
even should this virtue be real, is it a Chris- 
tian virtue or purely a human one? Every 
act of virtue which docs not proceed from a 
supernatural motive, in order to bring us to 
everlasting bliss, is of no value. And in the 
practice o? virtue, do you join to your external 
actions the inward and spiritual acts of the 
heart? O true Christian virtues, I fear that 
in me you are nothing but beautiful outward 
appearances I . I deserve the reproach of God's 
word: "Because thou sayest: I am rich, and 
made wealthy, and have need of nothing; and 
knowest not that thou art wretched and miser- 
able, and poor and blind and naked."* And in 
the same manner the counsel of St Augustine is 
good for me, that it is better to think of those 
virtues in which we are lacking rather than of 
those which we possess. "I will humble myself 
more for those virtues which I lack than pride 
myself on those I possess."! 

24. In order that an act of virtue be truly 
virtuous, it is necessary that it should be so in all 
its component parts, and if it be defective on'one 
point only it becomes vitiated at once. A dc- 

* Apoc. iii, 17. 

quoVll?t."7ft s " xx e x vi ^ d " St qUam eUti0r " C ° 
28 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
pravcd intention, a single thought of vanity at 
the beginning, middle or ending of any virtuous 
work is sufficient to corrupt and change it into 
an evil one. It is enough for virtue to be want- 
ing in humility for this virtue, which is no longer 
humble, to cease to be a virtue, and to become 
a cause of mortal pride. 

It often happens to one who leads a spiritual 
life that the more he strives after virtue, the more 
he finds a sweet pleasure in himself, and there- 
fore, as St Augustine says, the sole fact of his 
self-satisfaction quickly renders him displeasing to 
God. "The more man thinks he has reason to be 
pleased with himself, so much the more I fear his 
self-esteem will displease God, who resists the 
proud."* 

Oh, how poor wc seem when we examine our 
own spirituality and goodness by the help of these 
reflections! May it please God that we may not 
belike those menwhojdreaming that they possess 
great riches, awaken at the point of death to find 
that they arc only beggars: "They have slept 
their sleep: and all the men of riches have found 
nothing in their hands."! May it please God that 
the plea of our virtue may not prove an argu- 
ment for our greater condemnation: " And may 

t P*. hxv, 6. 

*9 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

that which is thought to be progress in'virtuc not 
prove a cause of damnation, "* says St Gregory. 

25. Humility is like purity: however little it 
may be contaminated it becomes impure. Purity 
is corrupted not only by an impure act, but also 
' by an immodest word or thought. And humility 
is also so fragile that it is easily tainted by the love 
of praise, by a word or thought of self-esteem, 
by vainglory or self-love. 

He who really loves purity not only dili- 
gently banishes all impure fancies but also does 
so with horror and abomination; and in the same 
way he who really loves humility, far from tak- 
ing pleasure in praise and honour, is displeased 
by them, and instead of fleeing from humilia- 
tions embraces them. 

Oh, how much 1 find to humble myself here, 
for I see from this that I have no real love of hu- 
milityl What is the result? One does not esteem 
a virtue which one docs not love, and one has 
but little desire to acquire a virtue which one 
neither esteems nor loves ; and if this be the case, 
woe is me ! If I have neither love nor esteem for 
humility, it is because I do not know how pre- 
cious this virtue is in itself, nor how necessary it 
to me. But, O my God, breathe over me that 
almighty word: "Be light madc/'f^so that I 

s i Ss 3 ^^sss^g^ profcctus puta,ur 

30 



esse ■ 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

may be enlightened and learn to know this im- 
portant virtue which Thou dost desire that I 
should love. And with Thy aid I will love it and 
guard it jealously, if I have light to understand it. 
26. Every morning we ought to make this 
prayer and daily offering to God: I offer Thee, 

my God, all my thoughts, all my words and 
all my actions of this day. Grant that they may 
be thoughts of humility, words of humility, and 
actions of humility — all to Thy glory. 

Also during the course of the day it will be 
well to repeat this ejaculatory prayer: "Lord 
Jesus, give me a humble and contrite heart." 
These few words contain all that we can possibly 
ask of God; because In praying for a contrite 
heart we ask Him for that which is necessary 
to ensure forgiveness for our past life, and in 
praying for a humbled heart all that which is re- 
quired to secure life everlasting. Oh, may I at 
the hour of death find myself with a contrite 
and humbled heart ! Then what confidence shall 

1 not have in the mere)' of God if I can exclaim 
with King David : "A contrite and humbleheart, 
O'my God, Thou wilt not despise."* We very 
oftenofferprayerstoGodtowhichHemightjustly 
reply: "Thou knowest not what thou askest"; 
but when we ask for holy humility, we know for 
certain we are asking tor something which is 
most pleasing to God and most necessary to our- 

•Ps. 1. 19. 
3i 



v-/ 



\S 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
selves; and in asking for this wc must believe 
that God will maintain His infallible promise: 
« Ask, and it shall be given you." * 
' -27.- If we examine all our falls into sin, 
whether venial or grave, the cause will always 
be found in some hidden pride; and true indeed 
are the words of the Holy Ghost: "For pride is 
the beginning of all sin."f Of this truth our 
Lord Jesus Christ Himself has warned us in His 
Gospel where He says: "And whosoever shall 
exalt himself shall be humbled." X God can give 
no greater humiliation to a soul than to allow it 
to fall into sin; because sin is the lowest depth 
of all'that is base, vile and ignominious. 

Therefore each time that we arc humbled by 
falling into sin, it is certain that we must pre- 
viously have exalted ourselves by some act of 
pride; because only the proud are threatened 
with the punishment of this humiliation: "And 
he humbled himself afterwards, because his heart 
had been lifted up."§ For thus it is written 
of King Ezechias in holy Scripture, and the 
inspired writer has also said: "Before destruc- 
tion the heart of man is exalted." || 

There never has been a case of sin, says St 
Augustine, nor ever will be one, nor can ever be 
one, of which pride was not in some measure the 
occasion: « There never can have been, and never 

* Ma,t " &£, ali t Ecclu, x, ,5. j Matt. «Hi. xi. 
§2Paralip.„x.i. || Prov. xviii, 12. 

32 



THOUGHTS J*ND SENTIMENTS 

can be, and there never shall be any sin without 
pride."* 

Let us be so truly humble that we may not 
incur the punishment of this humiliation. No one 
can fall who lies on the ground; and no one can 
sin so long as he is humble. My God 1 My God! 
let me remain in my nothingness, for it is the 
surest state for me. 

28. We read of many who after being re- 
nowned for their holiness, fervent in the exercise 
of prayer, great penances and signal virtues, and 
who after being favoured by God with the gifts 
of ecstasy, revelations and miracles, have never- 
theless fallen into the hideous vice of impurity 
at the slightest approach of temptation. And 
when I consider it, I find that there is no sin 
that degrades the soul so much as this impure 
sin of the senses, because the soul, from being 
reasoning and spiritual, like the angels, becomes 
thereby carnal, sensual and like brute beasts 
" who have no understanding.'^ 

I am constrained to adore with fear the su- 
preme judgements of God and also for my own 
warning to learn that pride was the reason of so 
great a fall; therefore we should all exclaim with 
the prophet, "And being exalted I have been 
humbled and troubled,"! and say to ourselves 

• " Nullum peccatum esse potuit aut potest aut poterit 
sine superbia." {Lib. de Salute, xix vel alias.) 
t Ps. xxxi, 9. \ Ps. lxxxvii. 

33 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

the words which he said to Lucifer after he had 
"meditated in his heart: 'I will ascend'" — 
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer."* 

The soul is humbled according to the mea- 
sure of its self-exaltation, and great, must have 
been the pride which was followed by such a 
tremendous and abominable humiliation. Ah, 
how much more precious is one degree of hu- 
mility in comparison with a thousand revelations 
or ecstasies 1 Of what use is it, suys St Augus- 
tine, to possess unsullied purity and chastity 
and virginity if pride dominates the heart? "Of 
what avail is continence to him who is domi- 
nated by pride ?"f 

It is a wise and just disposition of God to 
permit the fall of the 'proud into every sin and 
especially into that of wantonness, as being the 
most degrading, so that by so great a fall he should 
be ashamed, humbled and cured of his pride. O 
St Thomas,.how well hast thou said: "He who is 
fettered by pride and does not know it, falls into 
the sin of impurity which is manifesdy of itself 
disgraceful, that through this sin he may rise hu- 
miliated from his confession."! From this, the 
saint continues, is shown the gravity of the sin of 

* Isa. xiv. 

34 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
pride; and as a doctor often permits his patient to 
suffer from a minor ill so as to liberate him from 
a greater, so God permits the soul to fall into the 
sin of the senses, so that it may be cured of the 
vice of pride. 

" Towhateversublimeheightof sanctity wemay 
have attained, a fall is always to be feared. For, as 
says St Augustine, there is no holiness that cannot 
be lost through pride alone: " If there be holiness 
in you, fear lest you may lose it. How ? Through 
pride."* 

However much our Christian self-love desires 
to avoid the remorse and repentance which ever 
follows the humiliations caused by sin, we should 
nevertheless desire and seek to be humble, because 
if we are humble we can never be humbled. "O 
my soul," we must say to ourselves,"0 my soul, 
look well into thyself and be humble if thou dost 
not will that God should humble thee with tem- 
poral and eternal shame." God promises to exalt 
the humble, and heaven is filled with the humble; 
God also threatens the proud with humiliation, 
and hell is filled with the proud. God thus pro- 
mises and menaces so that if we do not remain in 
humilityallured byHis great promises, weshould 
at least remain in humility from fear of His po- 
tent threats: " And whosoever shall exalt himselr 

• "Si est In vob'is sanctitas, timete ne perdatis earn. 
Unde? Per superbiain." (Serm. 13 de Verb. Bom.J 

35 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
shall be humbled, and he that shall humble him- 
self shall be exalted." * 

God regards the petitions of the humble fa- 
vourably, and inclines to answer them: " He hath 
regard to the prayer of the humble, and He hath 
not despised their petition." f But however much 
the proud man may invoke God, God will give 
him no spiritual consolation. St Augustine says: 
"God will not come, even though thou call upon 
him, if thou art puffed up." % 

These things are all old and oft-repeated, but 
it is because we know them and do not practise 
them that we deserve the reproof given by the pro- 
phet Daniel to Nabuchodonosor: " Thou hast not 
humbled thy heart, whereas thou knewest all these 
things." § 

30. At times we are over-scrupulous about 
works of supererogation, such for instance as 
having omitted on such a day to say a certain 
prayer cr to perform some self-imposed mortifi- 
cation; these are scruples of omissions which in 
regard to our eternal salvation are of little or no 
importance; but we take but little heed of that 
humility which is to us most essential and neces- 
sary and without which no one can be saved. St 
Paul warns. us: "Do not become children in 

• Matt, xxiii, 12. | p s . ci> , 8< 

(Enarrfa P?"* F™ *"" invocatU!i ' si tufuer > s elatus." 
5 Dan. v, 22. 

* 
36 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

sense." * Do not be like children who cry and de- 
spair if an apple is taken away from them, but 
care little for losing a gem of great value. Let us 
place humility above all things. It is the hidden 
treasure buried in the field, to acquire which we 
ought to sell all we possess-! I* ' s tne P ear l of great 
price, to obtain which we should sell all we have. J 
Do not let us call these sins against humility 
scruples, but let us regard them as real sins, 
worthy of confession and of amendment. May 
God guard us from too easy a conscience in re- 
spect to that true humility which is commanded 
us in the Gospel. "We should indeed be taking 
the broad way mentioned by the Holy Ghost, 
which though it seems the right and straight road 
nevertheless leads direct to perdition: "There is 
a way that seemeth to a man right, and the ends 
thereof lead to death." § 

There are people who" think like the Phari- 
sees that virtue and sanctity consist in prayers of 
great length, in the visiting of churches, and in 

. some special abstinence, in retreats, in modesty 
of attire, in spiritual conferences or in some ex- 
ercise of exterior piety; but in all this who thinks 
of humility? Who esteems it and studies to ac- 

• quire it ? What is all this then but a vain delusion? 

31. We read of various ancient philosophers 

who bore calumny, insults and contempt with per- 

• 1 Cor. xiv, 20. t Matt. siii. 44. X Matt, xiii, 45. 
5 Prov. xvi, 25. 

37 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
feet equanimity and without anger or perturba- 
tion, but they did not even know the name of 
humility. Their courageous fortitude was only an 
effect of refined pride, for as they considered 
themselves far above kings and emperors they 
cared little about insults, and maintained their 
equanimity by the contempt with which they 
looked down on those who insulted them. They 
overcame their feeling of resentment by a passion 
that was more dominating still, and that they were 
modest, peaceable and gende was an effect of that 
pride which despotically ruled the feelings of their 
hearts. " • 

There is an immense difference between the 
morality of human philosophy and that evange- 
lical morality taught by Jesus Christ. Read the 
works of Seneca attentively — he who was held to 
exceed all other philosophers in morality, — and 
you will see how in those very maxims with which 
he teaches magnanimity and fortitude he also in- 
stils pride. Read the works of the most famous of 
the Stoics, and you will say with St Jerome that 
"When they are studied with the greatest care 
and attention, there is to be. found no satisfactory 
fullness of truth, no correspondence with the true 
principles of justice." * 

All is vanity that only inspires vanity. 

„* '.' V bl cum summo studio fuerint ac labore pcrlecta, 
nulla ibi satuntas veritatis, nulla refectiojustitix reperitur." 
CEftst. 146, ad Damas.J 

38 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

It is only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that 
are to be found the rules of that humility of heart 
which is true virtue, consisting in the knowledge 
of God's greatness and of our own nothingness; 
and it is by attending to the study of this wise 
humility that we fulfil the apostolic precept: " Not 
to be more wise than it behoveth to be wise, 
but to be wise unto sobriety." * 

Jesus Christ before teaching anything of His 
new law wished to teach humility, as St John 
Chrysostom observes: "When He began to lay 
down Hisdivine laws, He started with humility."! 
For without humility it is impossible to compre- 
hend this heavenly doctrine, but with humility 
we are enabled to understand everything that is- 
necessary or useful to our salvation. 

32.Toconfess our unworthiness and nothing- 
ness and to proclaim that all that is good in us 
comes from God is often the sterile exercise of a 
very contemptible humility,and may even be great 
pride, " magna superbia," as St Augustine ob- 
serves, and St Thomas teaches: "Humility, which 
is a virtue, is always fruitful in good works."J 

Do you wish to have an idea of what that hu- 
'mility is which is a true virtue ? The soul is truly 
humble when it recognizes that its true position 
in the order of nature or of grace is entirely de- 

• Rom. xii, 3. . 

t " Incipiens divinas leges ab humilitate incepit." (Horn. 
39 in Matt.) 

\ 22, qu. clxi, art. 5, ad 4. 

39 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

pendent on the power, providence and mercy of 
God; so that finding in itself nothingbut what is 
of God, it appropriates to itself only its own no- 
thingness, and abiding in its nothingness it places 
itself on the level of all other creatures without 
raising itself in any way above them. It annihi- 
lates itself before God, not so as to remain in an 
otiose inactivity,butseeking rather toglorifyHim 
continually, conforming with exact obedience to 
His laws and with perfect submission to His will. 

Humility has two eyes: with one we recog- 
nize our own misery so as not to attribute to our- 
selves anything but our nothingness; with the 
other we recognize our duty to work and to at- 
tribute everything to God, referring all things to 
Him: " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but 
to Thy name give glory." * 

The truly humble man considers that what- 
ever is good to his material or spiritual nature is . 
like unto the streams that have come originally 
from the sea and must eventually return to the 
sea; and therefore he is always careful to render 
to God all that he has received from God, and 
neither prays nor loves nor desires anything ex- 
cept that in all things the name of God be sanc- 
tified : « Hallowed be Thy name." f 

33. Humility is not a sickly virtue, timid and 
feeble as some imagine; on the contrary, it is 
strong, magnanimous, generous and constant, be- 
•Ps. cxiii, i. tMatt. vi, 9. 
40 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
cause it is founded on truth and justiccThe truth 
consists in knowing what God is and what we are. 
Justice consists in our recognizing that God as 
our Creator has a right to command us, and that 
we as His creatures are bound to obey Him. 

All the martyrs were perfectly humble because 
they preferred to die suffering the most terrible 
torments rather than abandon truth and justice. 
Ho.w great their endurance and courage in resist- 
ing those who tried to force them to deny Jesus 
Christ! 

To contradict others is an effect of pride 
whenever we contradict them in order to follow 
our own unjust and mistaken will; but when our 
opposition to the creature proceeds from a deter- 
mination to fulfil the will of the Creator it is 
dictated by humility; for by this we confess our 
indispensable obligation to be subject and obedi- 
ent to the divine will. 

It is for this reason that the proud man is 
always timid because his pride is only sustained 
by the weakness of human nature. And he who is 
humble is always brave in the exercise of his sub- 
mission to the divine Majesty because he receives 
his strength through grace. 
. The humble obey men, when in so doing they 
also obey God; but they refuse obedience to men, 
when by obeying them they would disobey their 
God. Reflect upon that answer, as modest as it 
was magnanimous, given before the elders of 

4* 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
Jerusalem by St Peter and St John: " Ifitbejust 
in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, 
judge ye. 

The humble man is above all human respect, 
and there is no danger that he will become a slave 
to the opinions, fashions or customs of the world; 
he knows his failings and that he is capable of 
every evil even though he does not commit it. If 
he sees others .doing wrong he compassionates 
them, but is never scandalized or induced to fol- 
low the bad examples of others; because all his 
intentions are directed towards God, and he has 
no other desire than that of pleasing God and of 
being directed by God alone. "Heelings to God 
alone;" hence, 'as the angelic St Thomas says so 
well: " No matter how much he sees others act- 
ing inordinately in word or deed, he himself will 
not depart from his uprightness of conduct." f 

34. The heart of the proud man is likcastormy 
sea, never at rest: "Like the raging sea which can- 
not rest ;" J and the heart of the humble is fully 
content in its humility — "Rich in his being" 
low" §— and is always calm and tranquil and with- 
out fear that anything in thisworld should disturb 
him,and shall "rest with confidence." II And from 
whence proceeds this difference ? Thehumbleman 

• Acts iv, 19. 
. t ''Soli Deo inhscret; unde, quantumcumque videat alios 
inordinate se habere dictis vel factis, ipse a sua rcctitudine. 
non recedit." (22, qu. xxxiii, art. 5.) 

X Isa. lvn, 20.. § James i, 10. || Isa. xiv, 30. 
42 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

enjoys peace and quiet because he lives according 
to the rules of truth and justice, submitting his 
own will in all things to the divinewill.The proud 
man is always agitated and perturbed because of 
the opposition he is continually offering to the 
divine will in order to fulfil his own. 

The more the heart is filled with self-love, so 
much the greater will be its anxiety and agitation. 
This maxim is indeed true; for whenever I feel 
myself inwardly irritated, disturbed and angered 
by some adversity which has befallen me, I need 
not look elsewhere for the cause of such feelings 
than within myself, and I should always do well 
to say: If I were truly humble I should not be 
disquieted. My great agitation is an evident proof 
which ought to convince me that my self-love is 
great and dominant and powerful within me, and 
is the tyrant which torments andgivesmeno peace. 

If I feel aggrieved by some sharp word that 
has been said to me, or by some discourtesy shown 
me, from whence does this feeling of pain pro- 
ceed? From my pride alone. Oh, if I were truly 
humble, what calm, what peace and happiness 
would my soul not enjoy ! And this promise of 
Jesus Christ is infallible : "Learn of Me, because 
I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall 
find rest to your souls." * 

When we are distressed by some adversity, it 
is unnecessary to seek consolation of those who 
• Matt, xi, 29. 
43 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

flatter us or have pity on us, and to whom \vc 
can pour out our troubles. It is sufficient to ask 
our soul : "Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? 
and why dost thou disquiet me?" * My soul, 
what hast thou ? and what seekest thou ? Dost 
thou perchance desire that rest which thou hast 
lost ? Listen then to the remedy offered to thee 
by thy Saviour, exhorting thee to learn of Him 
to be humble, "Learn of Me, because I am meek 
and humble of heart," and further listen to what 
He adds when He assures thee that with thy lost 
humility thou shalt also recover thy peace: "And 
you shall find rest to your souls." ' 

35. There are two kindsof humiliations: those 
which we seek of our own free-will, and those 
which proceed from the natural and temporal 
vicissitudes of this life. Against the first we must 
be on our guard, notwithstanding the ardour with 
which we embrace them, for the ever-lurking 
vanity of our self-love is so subde that it seeks 
even to enhance its- own vain-glory while it ap- 
pears to seek the contempt of man. But if we 
* accept the other humiliations which come to us, 
irrespective of our will, mortifying our feelings, 
thoughts and passions with prompt resignation 
to the will of God, it is a sign of a true and sincere 
humility; because such humiliations tend to mor- 
tify our self-love and to perfect the submission 
which we owe to God. 

• Ps. xli, 12. 
44 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
Voluntary and self-sought humiliations may 
cause the soul to become hypocritical. But in- 
voluntary humiliations sent to us by the Divine 
Will, and borne by us with patience, sanctify the 
soul; and for this reason the Holy Ghost has 
given us this most important mandate: "In thy 
humiliation keep patience. For gold and silver 
are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the 
furnace of humiliation."* It is impossible except 
in rare cases not to discover the hypocrisy of 
affected humility: "Touch the mountains, and 
they shall smoke." f And, again, it is impossible 
not to know the virtue of true humility, because 
its spirit is "gende, kind, steadfast, assured, 

secure, having all power." J 

36. There are also two kinds of temptations : 

those that come to us through the wickedness of 
the evil one and those which we go in search of 
ourselves in our own weakness and malice, but 
there is no better safeguard against either than 
humility. Humility causes the evil one to flee 
because he cannot face the humble on account of 
his great pride, and it causes every temptation to 
vanish suddenly because there can be no tempta- 
tion without a touch of pride. 

Temptations arise against purity or against 
faith or any other virtue, but we can easdy over- 
come them if we humble ourselves in our hearts 
and say: "Lord, I deserve these terrible tempta- 
• Eccltis ii, 4. 5. t Ps. olui, 5. t Wisd. vii, 23. 
45 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

tions as a punishment for my pride, and if Thou 
comest not to my help, I shall surely fall. I feel 
my weakness, and that I can do no good of my- 
self. Help me!" "Come unto my help, O God, 
O Lord, make haste to help me."* 

The more a soul humbles itself before God 
the more God comforts that soul with His grace, 
and inasmuch as God is with us, who shall pre- 
vail against us? "The Lord is the protector of 
my life, of whom shall I be afraid ?"| said King 
David ; and St Paul said : "If God be forus, who 
is against us?" J 

The strongest subterfuge which the devil can 
employ in order to make us fall into temptation 
isto flatter our humility, thus preventing us from 
being humble, for if the evil one succeeds in per- 
suading us that we have sufficient strength of our- 
selves to overcome temptation, we have already 
succumbed, as those succumbed of whom it was 
written that the Lord humbleth "them that 
presume of themselves and glory in their own 
strength." § ' . ■ 

Charity never grows cold nor fervour tepid 
except from lack of humility. Let us stand on our 
guard clad in the armour' of humility, and that 
will be sufficient. God will help us in the measure 
in which weare humble, and with His helpweshall 
be able to say: «I can do all things in Him who 
strengthened me." || 

SJudev!, 15. || Phil, iv, 13. J 

46 • 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

37. As for those other temptations there must 
certainly be presumption on our part when we 
seek them of our own accord and place ourselves 
in dangerous occasions of sin. He who is humble 
knows his own weakness ; and, knowing it, fears 
to place himself in danger; and because he fears 
it he flees from it. He who is humble trusts 
implicidy in the help of divine grace, on those 
involuntary occasions he may encounter, but he 
never presumes upon the help of divine grace on 
those occasions which he has sought himself. 

Let us be humble and humility will teach us 
to fear and avoid all dangerous occasions. In the 
lives of the saints we read how careful they were 
to avoid familiar intercourse with women ; and 
also in the lives of saindy women how equally 
cautious they were to avoid familiarity with men. 
Why did. they fear so much, since they already 
had so many penances and prayers with which to 
defend themselvesagainsttemptation ? Thereason 
is that they were humble and distrusted the weak- 
ness of human nature without presuming on 
grace; and thus their humility was the means by 
which they kept their purity unsullied. 

You say: I can put myself in the way of 
temptation, but I am not afraid, because I will not 
sin. This is a temerity proceeding from pride ; 
as St Thomas says: "This is a real temerity and 
is caused by pride,* and you would find yourself 

• " Hoc proprie temeritas est qua: causatur ex super- 
bia." (22 qu. lhi, art 3, ad a.) 

47 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

shamed by an unexpected fall. " And he that 
loveth danger shall perish in it." * All that pre- 
sume thus will undoubtedly fall, and their fall is 
the just punishment of their pride, as the pro- 
phet predicted: "This shall befall them for their 
pride." f 

38. God resists the proud, because the proud 
oppose Him; but He dispenses His graces libe- 
rally to the humble, because theylivein subjection 
to His. will. Oh, if we humbly made place for the 
divine gifts', how great would be the affluence of 
that grace in our souls! One of the worst conse- 
quences of our lack of humility will be that it 
will render the Day of Judgement so terrible to 
us; because on that day we shall not only have 
to give account of the graces which we have 
received and of which we have made a bad use, 
but also of those graces which God 'would have 
given us if we had been humble, and which He 
withheld from us on account of our pride. 

It will be useless then to excuse ourselves by 
saying that we fell into sueh and such a sin from 
want of grace. "Grace was there," the Lord will 
answer; "but you ought to have asked for it with 
humility and not forfeited itby your pride." Pride 
is an obstacle harder than steel which hinders the 
beneficent infusion of grace into the soul. And 
' it is the doctrine of St Thomas that it is pre- 
cisely by pride that our soul is placed in such a 
• Ecclus iii, 27. t Soph, ii, 10. 
48 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

state "as to be deprived of all inner spiritual 
good."* Do you desire grace in this world and 
glory in the next? Humble yourself, says St 
James: "Be humbled in the sight of the Lord, 
and He will exalt you."f God created out of 
nothing all that we can see in our world when 
" the earth was void and empty ,"£ and He filled 
with oil all the empty vases with which the widow 
presented Eliseus: "Empty vessels not a few." § 
And He also fills with His grace those hearts 
which are emptied of self— that is to say, which 
have neither self-esteem nor self-confidence and 
do not rely upon their own strength. 

Itismost humiliating to reflect upon this, that 
even though we be exempt from grave sins, yet, 
through some secret disorderwithin us we may be 
as guilty as if we had committed them. For if 
pride arises in our hearts and leads us to consider 
ourselves better than those who have committed 
these sinswe are at once rendered guilty'and worse 
than they in the eyes of God, because, as the Holy 
Ghost says, " Pride is hateful before God."ll St 
Luke, in his Gospel,«I records two different kinds 
of vanity shown by the Pharisee, one when he 
praised himself for the sins he did not commit, the 
other when he praised himself for the virtues thathe 
practised: and he was equally condemned for each 

•"Per hoc quod privatur interioribus bonis" (22, qu. 
exxxii, art. 3). 

t Jas iv, 10. X Gen. i. 2. § 4 Kings, iv, 3. 
II Ecclus x, 7. H Luke xviii, 11. 

49 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 



of these vain utterances. He apparently referred 
all the glory to God when he said : " O God, I 
give Thee thanks." But thiswas only ostentatious 
self-esteem. It is only too easy for these thoughts 
of vain-glory to insinuate themselves into our 
hearts: and who can assure me that lam not guilty 
of many of them? " What I have done openly I 
see," I can say with more truth than St Gregory, 
"but what I have inwardly felt I do not sec."* 
O my God, my God, "let no iniquity have 
dominion over me."t Do not let me be domi- 
nated by pride, which is the sum of all wickedness; ' 
from my secret sins cleanse me. Purify me from 
those sins of pride of which I am ignorant; "then 
shall I be without spot."^ This thought, says St 
Thomas, causes every just man to consider him- 
self worse than a great sinner: "The just man 
who is truly humble thinks himself worse because 
he fears lest in that which he seems to do well he 
should grievously sin by pride." § 

40. It may be said that humility is the most 
efficacious remedy for all evil and a most potent 
antidote to preserve the soul from that death and 
guilt which leads to everlasting perdition. And 
yet it is this virtue which we neglect most of all. 

tiJJ ne hi Kl? humilis "P** sedeteriorem, quia 

50 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
O my soul, God, who Himself desires thine 
eternal salvation, desires also that thou shouldst 
acquire it through humility; "And humility 
goeth before glory" ; * therefore bow down and 
adore His sovereign Will. "When we say the"Our 
Father," let us meditate upon that petition, in 
which we ask that the Will of God may be done, 
and let us apply that prayer to our own needs : 
O my'God, since Thou desirest that I should be 
humble, "Thy Will be done." Thy Will is done 
in heaven by all those blessed spirits who worship 
Thee with profound humility ; may Thy Will be 
done by me also 1 "Thy Will be done on earth, 
as it is heaven." And in the same way let us apply 
the last petition to ourselves also, saying: "And 
deliver us from evil," praying God to deliver us 
and preserve us from pride, which is the worst of 
all evils, if indeed it may not be called the greatest 
of all sins; for St Augustine, inquiring into 
which sin King David desired most to be deliver- 
ed from when he said, " I shall be cleansed from 
the greatest sin,"f answers that this sin was pride, 
for pride is the greatest of all sins, because it is the 
chief of all sins and the cause and origin of them 
all : " This I take to be pride, which is the chief 
and cause of every sin."^ 

41. We may say that one of the principal 

* Prov. xv, 33. f Ps. xviii, 14. 
' J "Hoc arbitror esse superbiam, quae caput et causa 
omnium delictorum est." (Enarr. in Ps. xviii.) , 

5» 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
causes of our lack of humility is that we forget 
too readily the sins we have committed. We only 
think of our sins when we are preparing for con- 
fession, and even then we only think of our sins 
in order to sum up their kind and number, in 
order to make a valid confession, but we hardly 
ever stop to consider their gravity, enormity and 
malice. And even if we do bestow some 'slight' 
thought on them, it is only in order to flatter 
ourselves that our sorrow is sufficient for the 
validity of our confession, and what is still more 
amazing is that we are hardly out of the con- 
fessional when the remembrance of all our sins 
vanishes, and even the greatest sinner lives in a 
state of absolute peace, as if he had always led 
the most innocent of lives. O miserable state! 

We always retain a vivid remembrance of those 
t insults which we. receive from our fellow-men, 

thereby fostering our resentment; but we do not 
bear in remembrance those insults which we have 
offered to God, thereby becoming humble and 
exhorting ourselves to repentance. What wonder 
that we do not become humble if we remain 
oblivious to these urgent motives for humility ! 

th e vT^ U 1 f em ^ mber our sins, not in order that 

hey should make us over-scrupulous, but so as 

to live ,n due humility. It is fo/that same reason 

, hat jeremias the prophet said that he who does 

cause «TlT Ce - ^ no f'P ractise hunii,it X> be- 
cause There ,s none that saith : What have I 

52 ' 



' THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
done?" * If we thought well over this, "What 
have I done?" what have I done in sinning? 
what have I done in offending God ? our hearts 
would certainly be far more contrite and humble. 
But few think of this. . 

We call upon the heavens to be astonished at 
us : " Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this."f If 
a nobleman is insulted in some public resort by 
a low-born menial, the offence is considered great, 
and an adequate punishmentis demanded for such 
an. outrage; and yet it is only a man who has been 
insulted by another man, a worm that is offended 
by another worm, nothingness offended by no- 
thingness. But that this worm, this nothingness, 
should insult the divine majesty of God appa- 
rendy causes no dismay. " Be astonished, O ye 
heavens," but at least let us be ashamed and hum- 
ble ourselves for our insensate hardness of heart. 

42. There are two special virtues which the 
Son of God wished to teach us, and recommended 
us most earnesdy to practise — humility and 
brotherly love; and it is precisely against these 
two virtues that the devil wages war the most. 
But it is enough that he should succeed in con- 
quering humility for love to be overcome at the 
same time", because, as St Augustine says: "You 
cannot attaintocharityexceptthroughhumility."^ 

• Jer. viii, 6. t Jer. «# 12. 

t "Non pervenitur ad charitatem, nisi perhumilitatem." 
(Enarr. in Ps. cxxx, et serm. 10 de Verbo Dom.) 

53 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART . 
Pride is always ready to take offence; and with 
this disposition to resent slights and injuries how 
is it possible to Jive in charity? When we find 
two persons who are prone to disagree, and to 
whom reconciliation is difficult, we cannot be far 
wrong in concluding that both are full of pride. 
Therefore it is obvious that charity cannot exist 
without humility. 

. It is for this reason that St Paul, after having 
exhorted Christians to brotherly love, advises 
them at the same time to be humble: "But in 
humility let each esteem others better than them- 
• selves,']* for well he knew that brotherly love 
cannot endure without humility; for where pride 
exists there will also arise contentions, quarrelling 
and strife: "Among the proud there are always 
contentions." f V 

Let us accept the apostolic admonition, and 
do not let us blame others for their pride when 
they cause us displeasure, but rather blame our- 
selves for not knowing how to bear that dis- 
pleasure with humility. Let us begin by acquiring 
hat patient humility ourselves which we^esirf 

nofT t0 u S T m ° therS ' umbering that it is 
not : through the patience and humility of others 
that we shall be saved but by our own 

or'li™;^ 1 ?? 11 fo J, those who P° ssess riches 

ZZnl C h •"* beCaUSe these tw ° gtfs 
are apt to cause vanity ,„ those who possess them. 

•Phil. ii, 3 . t Prov. xiii, io. 
54 



. THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
It is far better therefore to be less rich and less 
learned and to be humble, than to possess great 
riches or great learning and to be proud. 

Nevertheless, many who are now saints in 
heaven were both rich and learned when they 
were on earth; but they are saints because they 
were humble; and both riches and learning must 
be regarded as vanity, and not esteemed except 
in so far as they can help us to gain eternal hap- 
piness. This is the way of the truly humble: 
he does not- esteem himself for his possessions* 
or for his knowledge, but regards these all as 
nothing, because he regards himself also as no- 
thingness. - 

"Set not your heart upon them."* This is 
not a counsel but a precept; and God, through 
His prophet, wishes to instruct us: If you are 
rich in possessions or in knowledge, be neverthe- 
less poor of heart, that is to say, be humble. 
This is difficult, it is true; but to overcome the 
difficulty increases the merit of the virtue. There 
is no great merit in being humble when our con- 
dition is lowly, but there is great merit in being 
humble when we are surrounded by the incen- 
tives to pride, which are riches and learning. St 
Bernard says: "It is no great thing for a man 
to be humble in abjection, but for one who is 
honoured humility is altogether a great and rare 

•Ps. Ill, II. 

55 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART « 
virtue."* It is a beautiful sight for men and for 
angels to see a rich man who is modest and 
apparently forgetful of his wealth, and a wise man 
who seems unaware of his great knowledge. 
t 44v Although sin is in itself a great evil— 
in fact the greatest of all evils— still under a cer- 
tain form it can prove a good to us if we know 
how to avail ourselves of it as a means of exer- 
cising humility. How many great sinners have 
become great. saints without having done any- 
thing more than keep their sins constantly before 
their eyes and humble themselves in shame and 
confusion before God and their fellowmen ! 

s\JJ» e u°l ds A "> inst Thee onlyhave I 
sinned which David carried in his heart, con- 
futed more than anything else to make him a 
ant And^the angelic St Aomas in explaining 
the verseof St PauTtothe Romans :f "This is thf 

f, ood ; h , at , P^s them that love God, for when 
they fall fr 0m the love of God sin ' th ° e ™ 

is mo, .25 "if"' th . g00d and wisdom of God 
meTnfnf ?r'^ SCt f ° rth > that He ^ers us a 
means of sanctifying ourselves through our very 

"Ton Zt " SHa11 "^ 8e able to "»teS 

super "Missus es{"j. humihtas honorata » (Horn? iv 

t Romans viii, 28 ' 

perVe'Sm in M^ffi'"^"" *«> ipsum quod 
et cautiores." (3 par . qTTx^aA.^ ad T rCdeUnt 

.56 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
excuse that we could not become saints because 
we committed grave sin, when those, very sins 
might have been the means of sanctifying us by 
urging us to a deeper humility. How great is 
God's mercy in thus giving me the means of 
sanctifying myself only by remembering that I 
have sinned and by meditating in the light of 
holy faith upon what it means to be a.sinner! 

St Mary Magdalen did not become holy so 
much by the tears she shed as by the humility of 
her heart. Her sanctification began when she first 
began to be humble in the knowledge of herself 
and of God. "She knew."* 

She advanced in sanctity as she advanced in 
humility, for when she did not dare to appear 
before Jesus Christ she remained behind Him, 
"and standing behind,'*t and she completed her 
career of sanctity by her humility, for, as St 
Gregory says, she did nothing all the rest of her 
life but meditate upon the great evil she had 
committed in sinning. "She considered what she 
had done.":t 
• 45. When we feel ashamed and disturbed at 
having fallen into sin, this is but a temptation of 
the devil, who tries to make use of our distress 
to draw us perhaps into some graver sin. 

The sorrow we feel at having offended God 
does not distress the soul, but rather leaves it 

• Luke vii, 37. r Luke vii, 38. 

X " Consideravit quid fecit." (Horn. 20 in Evang.) 

57 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
calm and serene, because it is a sorrow united to 
humility, which brings grace with it; but to be 
distressed and overwhelmed by sadness — either 
from the shame we feel at having committed some 
disgraceful action, or from a sudden recognition 
of our liability to fall just when we thought our- 
selves stronger and more faithful than ever — is 
simply pride, which is born of an excessive self- 
love. We have too good an opinion of ourselves, 
and this is the reason why we are disturbed 
when we see our reputation injured by others or 
diminished by our own actions. If I reflect well 
whenever I am distressed about my own faults, 
I shall find that my distress is only due to pride, 
which persuades me by the subde artifice of self- 
love that I am better than the just themselves, 
of whom it is written: « A just man shall fall seven 
times."* 

Hewho is humble, even though he fall through 
frailty, soon repents with sorrow, and implores 
the divine assistance to help him to amend; nor 
is he astonished athaving fallen, because he knows 
that of himself he is only capable of evil, and 
would do far worse if God did not protect Him 
with His grace. After having sinned it is good 
to humble oneself before God, and without losing 
courage to remain in humility so as not to fall 

JKl? n*T Sa ? With David: "* have been 
humbled, O Lord, exceedingly; quicken Thou 

• Prov. xxiv, 1 6. 
58 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

me according to Thy word." * But to afflict our- 
selves without measure, and to give way to a 
certain pusillanimous melancholy, which brings 
us to the verge of despair, is a temptation of 
pride, insinuated by the devil, of whom it is 
written, he is king "over all the children of 

pride." f . 

46. However upright we may be, we must 
never be scandalized nor amazed at the conduct 
of evil-doers, nor consider ourselves better than, 
they, because we do not know what is ordained 
for them or for us in the supreme dispositions of 
God, "Who doth great things and unsearchable 
and wonderful things without number." J 

When Zaccheus thought only of usury and 
oppressing the poor, when Magdalen filled Jeru- 
salem with scandal, when Paul cursed and perse- 
cuted the Christian religion, who would have 
imagined that they would ever have become 
saints ? And on the other hand, who would have 
believed that Solomon, the oracle of divine wis- 
dom, would die in the midst of wantonness and 
idols ? that Judas, one of the Aposdes, would 
betray his divine Master and then give himself 
up to despair? Or that many holy men advanced 
in sanctity would have become apostates ? These 
are examples which should make us tremble when 
we reflect upon the unfathomable mystery of the 
judgement and mercy of God: "One He putteth 

• Ps. cxviii, 107. t Job xli, 25. t J° b v . 9- 
59 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
down, and another He lifteth up."* " He hath 
put down the mighty from their seat, and hath 
exalted the humble." f 

Every saint can in a moment becomea sinner if 
he is vain of his sanctity; and a sinner can asquickly 
becomea saint if he is contrite and humbles him- 
self for his sin. How many there are who in the 
fervour of their prayer " mount up to the heavens " 
and soon afterwards, at the slighest occasion of 
sin, they" go down to the depths" ! $ Howmany 
there are too who, given up to vanity and stained 
with the deepest sins, are suddenly changed by 
having their eyes opened to the knowledge of the 
truth and who thus attain to Christian perfection! 
Indeed the high counsels of God are to be adored 
and not scrutinized, for « The Lord humbleth 
and exalteth ; He raiseth up the needy from the 
dust, and lifteth up the poor from thedung-hill."§ 

47. Who knows if the one I judge and speak 

Sn! °\ may n0t be dearer to G °d than I am? 
Whether another whom I esteem but little and 
despise for his physical or moral defects be not 
destined to be very happy with God for all 
eternity? Who knows whether I may not be con- 
demned to the pains of hell for all eternity ? With 
this uncertainty how can I then presume to con- 
sider myself better than any other ? 

No one is worth more than what he is worth 

• •Ps.I«iv,8. t Luke j, 52. tP s . cvi , 26t 
5 1 Kings 11, 7, 8. 
60 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
in the eyes of God, and how can I know whether 
I am an object of hatred or of love to God ? "And 
vet man knoweth not whether he be worthy of 
Jove or hatred."* How do I know if God will 
fashion a vessel of honqur or of dishonour from 
the clay of which I am made? "For who distin- 
guished thee?"f "But what is the use of these 
vessels? the Potter is the judge." J 

When I read of St Paul, the herald of the 
Holy Ghost and great doctor of the GentiIes,who 
said of himself that he lived in fear of falling into 
sin and becoming a castaway after having con- 
verted so many thousands of souls to God: "Lest 
perhaps when I have preached to others I myself 
may become a castaway ; "§ ah, if St Paul himself, 
who was rapt unto the third heaven and could 
say that "Christ Hved in him," "and I live now, 
not I, but Christ liveth in me," I should thus fear, 
what shall I say of myself, who am so contempti- 
ble? At the day of judgement how many shall 
we see on the right hand of God whom we looked 
upon as castaways ! and how many shall we see 
oaHis left whom we believed to be amongst 
His elect ! 

It would be well for us, however,- when we 
make comparisons between ourselves and others, 
to say what Juda said of Thamar, "She is juster 
than I," and in some circumstance or other this 

• Ecclus is, i. 1 1 Cor. iv, 7. J VVisd. xv, 7. 

§ 1 Cor. a, 27. |l Gal. ii, 20. 

61 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
will always prove to be true. St Thomas taught 
that a man may truthfully say and believe that 
he is worse than others, partly on account of the 
hidden defects which he knows that he possesses, 
and partly on account of the gifts of God that are 
hidden in others.* 

48. Who can assure me that before long I 
shall not fall into some mortal sin ? And having 
once fallen, who can assure me that I may not 
die in sin, and thus be condemned to eternal 
punishment? As long as I live in this world I 
cannot be sure of anything.I must hope to save 
my soul, but I must also" fear to lose it. O my 
soul, I do not intend to depress thee; no, nor do 
I wish to fill thee with pusillanimous despair by 
these thoughts.' I only desire thee to be humble." 
And how much reason hast thou to humble thy- 
self in this uncertainty, not knowing what manner 
or death shall be thine, nor what shall be thy lot 
tor al eternity? It is only by the measure of thy 
. humility that thou canst hope to please God and 
save thyself, because it is certain that God will 
save the humble people,"t " and He will save 
the humble of spirit." J 

-There are some who think that to meditate 
on the mystery of predestination is likely to fill 

t Ps. xvii, 28. J p s . xxxiiij , 9 . 

' 62 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS * 
us with despair; but it appears to me, as it also 
did to St Augustine, that this thought is a most 
efficacious means of practising humility,* because 
when I meditate upon my eternal salvation I see 
that it does not depend upon the power of my 
own free-wilJ, but only upon the divine mercy. 
Not trusting to myself, but placing all my hope 
in God, I must say with the wise Judith: "And 
therefore let us humble our souls before Him, 
and continuing in a humble spirit in His ser- 
vice, ask the Lord that He would show His 
mercy to us."f 

49. It is a special gift of God to know how 
to govern the tongue, as the preacher says in his 
Proverbs: " It is the Lord, who governs the 
tongue" ;£ and when God wishes to confer this 
gift of His upon any one, He does so by means 
of humility. And the Saviour teaches us in St 
Matthew xii, 34: "Out of the abundance of the 
heart the mouth speaketh." Therefore, if the heart 
is well-regulated by humility, the tongue will be 
well-regulated also. 

He who is humble of heart has but a poor 
opinion of himself and a good opinion of others; 
hence it is that he never praises himself or blames 
others. The humble man speaks but little, and 
weighs and measures his words so as not to say 
more than truth and modesty require, and, as his 

• Lib. de Praedest. et Grat. t J u d. viii, 16, 17. 

X Prov. xvi, 1. 

63 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
heart is free from vanity, so is his speech. We 
argue therefore that there can be little or no 
humility in our hearts when there is little or 
no circumspection in our speech. « Their heart 
is vain," says the prophet, and this is the reason 
why he also adds: "Their throat is an open 
sepulchre." * We speak of those things that fill 
the heart, "For out of the abundance of the 
heart the mouth speaketh,"t and our speech will 
determine whether truth or vanity predominates 
in our hearts. It is well to ask God to curb our 
tongue, but let us also ask Him to give humility 
to our heart, for this alone will be a most power- 
ful curb. 

50. Humility is charitable, interpreting all 
things for the best and pitying and excusing the 
faults of others as much as possible. For this 
reason St Peter, wishing to exhort us to love and 
have compassion upon our fellow-creatures, also 
exhorts us at the same time to be humble : "Hav- 
ing compassion one of another, being lovers of . 
the brotherhood-humble," J for there can be no 
charity without humility, and therefore to censure 
and criticize too readily the actions of our neigh- 
bours and to judge and speak ill of them are vices 

mUfo mf y ° pposed t0 the virt ' ue of h «- 
ZtT I h0 hl& ven me the P wer to judge 
E r tt n '^ 1 *us constitute myself 
their judge and m the tribunal of my thoughts 
^.v.io.n. tLukevi, 4 5. J , Pet. iii. 8 
64 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

condemn first one and then another, I am usurp- * 
ing an authority I do not possess and which be- 
longs to God alone : "For God is Judge."* And 
if this is not pride, what is pride? In punishment 
of such arrogance God often permits us to fall 
• into the very faults that we have condemned in 
others, and it is well for us to remember the 
teaching of St Paul : " Wherefore thou art inex- 
cusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. 
For wherein thou judgest another thou condemn- 
est thyself." f There is always some pharisaical 
pride in the heart of him who judges and speaks 
evil of others, because in belitding others he exalts 
himself. It is in vain that we try and cover our 
evil-speaking under the veil of some good mo- 
tive ; it must always be the result of pride which 
is quick to find out the weaknesses of others 
while remaining blind to its own. 

If we are guilty of pride let us try and amend, 
and not flatter ourselves that we possess the 
smallest degree of humility, until by our good 
resolutions carefully carried out we have morti- 
fied ourevil tendency to speak ill of our neighbour. 
Let us hearken to the Holy Ghost: "Where pride 
is there also shall be reproach, but where humility 
is there also is wisdom." J 

The proud man is scornful and arrogant in 
his speech; and the humble alone knows how to 
speak well and wisely. If there is humility in the 

* Ps. xlix, 6. t Roni ' il V'' JProv. xi, 2. 

65 



p. 

I 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

- heart it will be manifested in the speech, because 
"A good man out of the good . treasure of his 
heart bnngeth forth that which is good."* 

Si. But in order to acquire humility, it is 
necessary also to be prudent in not speaking well 
of oneself. "Let- another praise thee," says the 
inspired word, "and not thy own mouth, a 
stranger and not thy own lips."f 

It is very easy for us to fall into this fault of 
praising ourselves "Until it becomes a habit, and 
with this habit so opposed to humility how can 
we be humble? ' 

What good qualities have we of our own for 
which we can praise ourselves ? All the good that 
is in us comes from God, and to Him alone we 
must give pra.se and honour. When, therefore, 

ZduTtn rJT W ^ are usur P>'"g g^ry which 
is due to God alone. Even though in praising 
ourselve^we sometimes refer all fo the^onouf 
of God, it matters little; when there is no abso^ 

prase f? r SS :a i ,t * be " e V° abstain from self- 
praise, for although we refer all to the glory of 

felfW ° Ur IIP A ° Ur in S enious anISde 
And even?n n0 t- fa,1 i a PP ro P^e Jf secretly 
Zrc mav 55 " g de P reciatin gly °f ourselves 
words^Kh 1 ^ S ° me ^critical Pnde in our 
Xnnrsaid ^T S h men - t,0ned b X the ^ of old 

self wickeSv '1 Th-" ? e that humb ' eth him " 
eir wickedly, and his interior is full of deceit.'! 

LUkeV *' 45 - ^v.x^n. tEcclusxix, 2J . 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

Therefore we can never watch over ourselves 
enough, because there is nothing that teaches us 
so well to know the pride of our heart as our 
words, with which we either reveal or hide the 
depravity of our affections. And this is the charac- 
teristic of the proud, according to St Bernard: 
"One who'boastfully proclaims what he is, or lies 
about what he is not."* 

Let us bear in heart and mind this precious 
advice given by Tobias to his son : " Never suffer 
pride to reign in thy mind or in thy words."f 
The words of a proud man are nauseous, whether 
he speaks of himself or others, and they are hated 
both by God and man: therefore we should detest 
this vice, not only from the Christian but also 
from the human standpoint. 

52. God has Himself given us the means of 
obtaining this humility of heart, in the remem- 
brance of death and by meditation upon it. Death 
is the best teacher of truth; and pride — being 
nothing but an illusion of our heart — clings to a 
vanity which it does not recognize as vanity; and 
therefore death is the best means by which we can 
learn what vanity is and how to detach our hearts 
from it. 

Our self-love is wounded at the thought that 
we must soon die, and when we least expect it, 

• " Qui vel sibi arrogat quod est, vel mentitur de se quod 
non est." (Epist. lxxxvii.) 
fTob. iv, 14. 

67 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
and that with death everything comes to an end 
for ns'm this world; but at the same time this 
reflection weakens and humbles our self-love. 
Unfortunately, we do not think of death with 
( . that seriousness which we ought to give to it. 
If I knew for certain that I had to die within 
a year, I imagine that I should grow more humble 
from day to day at the thought that each day 
was bringing me nearer to my death. But who 
can assure me that I have one year to live — I, who 
am not certain to live to the end of the day? 

O my God,, true light of my soul, keep alive 
within me the remembrance of my death. Tell 
me often with Thine own voice in my heart that 
I must die, perhaps within a year, perhaps within 
a month, perhaps within a week; and thus I shall 
remain humble. In-order that the thought of 
death may not be unfruitful to me, excite within 
my soul now that knowledge and those feelings 
which I shall have at that last hour of my life 
when the blessed taper is- placed in my hands 
'in the day of trial."* Make me know now as 
1 shall know then what vanity is, and then how 
can I ever be arrogant again in the face of that 
most certain truth? "Vanity of vanities, and 
all is vanity." f Job was always humble even in 
in the days of his prosperity: " My days shall be 
shortened and I only thegraveremaineth for me."t 
S3- Another humiliating thought lies in the 
•Wisd.iii.i8. tEcclesi, 2 . tjobavii.i. 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
remembrance of the judgement to come. Saints 
tremble at the thought that they will be judged 
by a God in whose presence not even the angels 
are immaculate. They tremble, although they 
have nothing to be judged except their good 
works. And what will become of me, therefore, 
who am guilty of so many sins? 

Therefore if. I esteem myself and seek to be 
esteemed by others either as more virtuous or less 
sinful than I really am, it is certain that such a 
desire can only arise from my own hypocrisy, by 
which I appear before the eyes of men under a 
false disguise, leading them to believe that I am 
one thing when I am really another, because I 
know that they cannot see what is going on in 
my heart; but a time will come when God will 
reveal my wickedness to the whole world : "I will 
show thy nakedness to the nations, and thy shame 
to kingdoms."* And then I shall appear as I 
really am. And what will they say of me who have 
been deceived by my false dissemblings? 

O my soul, be humble and forget not that the 
more thou art exalted in thy own esteem the 
more wilt thou be shamed and confounded at 
the judgement day. For then, as says the pro- 
phet, "Man shall be humbled," f and only the 
humble will be able to glory "in his exulta- 
tion." J Remember that according to the saying 
of Isaias, the day of judgement has been ap- 

• Nahura iii, 5. t Isa. v, 1$. Z Jas i, 9. 
69 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
pointed especially to humble the proud: "Because 
the day of the Lord of hosts shall be on every 
one that is proud and highminded, and he shall 
be humbled,"* and thou shouldest regard as 
though specially directed to thyself that prophe- 
tic voice from God which says: "Behold I come 
against thee, O proud one, saith the Lord, for thy 
day is come, the time of thy visitation. And the 
proud one shall fell, he shall fall down, and there 
shall be none to lift him up." f 

Ah, how can I indeed esteem myself more 
than others when we have all to appear as crimi- 
nals, miserable and naked, before God's judge- 
ment seat? So writes St Paul in his Epistle to 
the Romans: "But thou, why judgest thou thy 
brother ? And why dost thou despise thy mother ? 

of Chris? 4 Stand bef ° re the J ud g eme nt-seat 

54- O my soul, humble thyself in the re- 
membrance that there is a hell, not considering it 
only , n the abstract, nor even as a contrivance for 
he punishment of sinners in general, but regard 
it ratfier as a place specially prepared for thyself 
and deserved by thee more than once I 7 * 
I ZVr ! h f rCt !! e P roudwi11 be cast headlong, and 

LtXinlltr r H them at *» moment, 
eternally insulted and tormented by devils had 

C«? SSf. Prese 7 ed theref ™ by thfrnercv of 
God Millions of angels have bin impSed 

• Tisa. 1,31. t Rom. xiv, io. 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
there for having committed one sole sin of pride 
and that only in thought. Ah, my soul, continue 
thus in thy pride and thy false self-esteem, guard- 
ing thy own susceptibilities and oblivious of the 
rights of others, and "thou shalt be brought 
down to hell;" that place of torment awaits thee, 
and there below thy pride shall indeed be humbled. 
Thou who delightest now in thy own proud 
thoughts shalt there be thrust into flames of fire, 
and thou who now wishest to be above all shalt 
then be below all. For there below thou wilt have 
to face a God who bears an infinite hatred to the 
proud and is infinitely angry with them. And as 
it is a truth that the humble shall be exalted in 
heaven, it is also a truth that the proud shall be 
humbled and cast down into hell. 

"And the rich man also died"; thus writes St 
Luke of a proud man who was "clothed in purple 
and fine linen." And the rich man died — that is 
the end of all humanity and vanity; and "he was 
buried in hell"* — that is the end of all pride. The 
grave is the end of man ; hell is the end of the 
proud. 

SS' But above all the thought of eternity 
should keep us humble. Taking it for granted that 
I ammistaken in practising humilityin this world, 
and in giving place to others, I know that my 
mistake is small because everything below comes 
quickly to an end; but if I am deceivingmyselfby 
* Luke xvt, 22. 
7* - 



I ! 



•!■ ! 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
living in reckless pride, my mistake is great be- 
cause .twill last for all eternity. But even if I am 
Jiving m humility, I must still fear because I can 
never be sure whether this humility which I think 

thZ S T \V7? hU ^ i ! ity ° r not > h °wmuch more 
then should I fear if I am living in open pride ? 
So be it, O my soul 1 satisfy all thy proud desires- 
be thou esteemed, praisei and honoured by S 
withou 1 lir S Z kn ™ led S* ri ches and pleasure 
Tnv 11 i rS,ty ' W, ^P Ut °PP° s ^ion, without 
any obstacles to trouble thee or restrain thv 
vicious passions. And then ? And then ? I pray thee 

even I Sf* the Pf? udN ^uchodonosor;who 
even in the fulness of his power thought of "what 

t^ COm f t0 P, aSS herea fter.»* All is vanity^ha 

Se a t n ernt ; : n h' ft T d °° med t0 ente ^ 
that eternity which hath no end; therefore what 

will be the end of the vanity of thy pr de ? The 
• Dan ;; -.„ _i -r, . "I 



•Dan.ii, 29 . t P,. Ixxvi, 7 , 8. 
7* 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
Whenever the world offers thee honours, fame 
and pleasure, remember, my soul, to say within 
thyself: And then ? And then ? "Remember what 
things have been before thee."* 

How many of those who were conspicuous 
amongs the proud of this world have overcome 
their pride and acquired humility by one single 
serious thought of eternity! The words of the 
prophet have always been and will always be found 
true: "And the ancient mountains were crushed 
to pieces, the hills of the world were bowed 
down by. the journeys of His eternity."! 

§6. There is one kind of pride which is more 
abominable in the eyes of God than any other, 
and it is that, says Holy Writ, which belongs 
more especially to the poor. "A poor man that is 
proud My soul hateth." J If the pride of one who 
is rich in merit, talents and virtues — treasures 
most precious to the soul — is displeasing to God, 
still more displeasing to Him will it'be in one 
who has not these same motives for pride, but 
who on the contrary has every reason to be 
humble. And this, I fear, is the pride of which 
I am gui ty. 

I am poor in soul, without virtue or merit, 
full of iniquity and malice, and yet I esteem my- 
self and love my own esteem so much that I am 
troubled if otherc do not esteem me also. I 
am truly a poor, proud, miserable creature,; and 
• Ecclus xli, 5". t Hab. iii, 6. X Ecclus xxv, 4. 
73 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
the greater my poverty, the more my pride is 
detestable in the eyes of God. AH this proceeds 
from not knowing myself. Grant, O my God 
that I may say with the prophet: "I am the man 
that see my poverty."* Make known unto me, 
U Lord, mine own wretchedness, that of myself 
I am nothing, know nothing, and possess nothing 
but my sins, and deserve nothing but hell. I have 
received from Thee many graces, lights and in- 

SETS "J! m r Ch he, P> and X et with what 
ingratitude have I responded to Thy infinite 

goodness! Who more "sinful, who more u* 

grateful and who more wicked than I? The- 

more Thou hast done for me, the more humble 

I ought to be, for I shall have' to render unto 

«A»AT ?t f ,Ct aCC ° Unt of a11 Th Y befits: 
. And unto whomsoever much is given, of him 
much shall be required." f And yft the grea Z 
% goodness, the greater my pride. I^bTush 

S? S K? me ' 3nd !t IS the know1 ^ of my pride 
that obliges me now to be humble! Y • 

thJ 7 -' U 1S ea . sler to be hum We in adversity 
than in prosperity, and it is impossible to S 

fcd h «Th POnl h3p ? ineSS "^-nces man J 
thZ 1 t> h t Y are not in the labour of men "■ t 

d" S .^Th:?f het " Ki - n / , Sp l aks ° f -nners, an! 
aaas Therefore pride hath held them fast "i 

Adversity counterbalances our self-love and 
•!«.■»*. tLukexH.48. t Ps . lxxii . 5 ; 



74 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

prevents its growth, for on the one hand it makes 
known our frailties to us, the more so when it is 
unexpected and grievous, and on the other hand 
it compels us to turn our thoughts to God, im- 
plore His mercy, and humble ourselves under 
His hand, as did the prophet: " In my affliction 
I called on the Lord "; * " And as one sorrowful 
so was I humbled."! Therefore, if we know not 
how to bear our tribulations with cheerfulness, 
let us at least endure them with patience and 
humility. 

Oh, how precious are those humiliations by 
which we acquire, and learn to exercise, humility! 
It is then that we ought to exclaim with the 
psalmist, " Thou hast humbled the proud one, 
as one that is slain"; J or else, like King Nabu- 
chodonosor when he' came to his senses, and 
humbly exclaimed: "Therefore I do now praise 
and magnify and glorify the King of heaven, 
because them that walk in pride He is able to 
abase." § Afflictions are not wanting in this vale 
of. tears, but there are few who know how to use 
them as a means of becoming humble. Grant of 
Thy mercy, O my God, that I may be amongst 
those few! . 

58. We must not be too apt to flatter our- 
selves that. we possess any special virtue. Our 
chastity may be the result of a want of oppor- 

• Ps. xvii, 7. t Ps. xHiv, 14. \ Ps. bKxviii, 11. 
§ Dan. iv, 34. 

75 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
tunities or temptations: and in like manner our 
patience may proceed from a phlegmatic tempera- 
ment, or be dictated by worldly, and not by 
Christian, wisdom. This can be said of many 
other virtues in which we are liable to make the 
same mistake. 

We must study this doctrine well, that the 
true Christian virtues are « born not of blood, 
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
man, but of God " * ; that is, that they are not 
the work either of the desires, passions or reason 
of man, but proceed from God as their first prin- 
ciple, and return to God'as their last end. This 
knowledge is necessary for us, so that we may 
not imagine ourselves to be virtuous when we 
are not, nor think ourselves better than others 
when we see them falling into some sin. 

We should ever learn lessons of humility 
from the fauks of others, and say: If I had found 
myseit in like circumstances, and had had the 
same tarnation, perhaps I should have done 
worse. If God does not permit great temptations 
to assail me, ,t is because He knows my weak- 
ness and. that I should succumb to them; with 

man »+ fTST ^r*™ What 1 am > " aweak 
man. f And if I do not faU into sin,it is Aot by my 
own virtue, but by God's grace. lit me therefore 
abide in humility and it ?s to my advantage, be- 
cause ,f, n my pride I count myself greater than 
* John i, 13, tWisd.«, s .- 
76 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

others, God will abandon me and suffer me to fall, 
and will humble me through those very things 
for which I wish to exalt myself. Listen to the 
advice of St Augustine: "I make bold to say that 
it is profitable for the proud to fall, in order 
that they may be humbled in that for which they 
have exalted themselves." * 

59. Whenever it happens that we do good to 
the souls of others, either by instruction or good 
advice, or by our discourses and good example, 
it is then more than at any other time that we 
, should consider ourselves bound to be humble for 
this reason, which is founded on faith and truth: 
God chooses things most vile, most weak, most 
base and most worthy of contempt in this world 
for the fulfilment of His great purposes, and this 
is a truth revealed by the Holy Ghost through 
the mouth of St Paul: "But the foolish things 
of the world, and the weak things of the world, 
and the base things of the world, and the things 
that are contemptible, hath God chosen." f 

Therefore it follows that if God has made me 
His instrument to sow good see'd in the souls of 
others, that they may bring forth fruit unto ever- 
lasting. life, which is the most wonderful work 
that proceeds from His mercy and omnipotence, 
I must in consequence count myself in truth 

• " Audeo dicere, superbis expedit cadere. tit in eo, in quo 
se extollunt. humilientur." (Senn. liii, de Verb. Dom.) 
t 1 Cor. i, 27, 28. 

77 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

amongst the vilest and most contemptible things 
of this world. "And the base things of the world 
and the things that are contemptible and things 
that are not." This' is an article of faith. 

If a soul were to be lost through my bad ex- 
ample or advice, I should certainly be the author 
and cause of its destruction, but if a soul should 
be saved either by my word or deed I cannot at- 
tribute the glory to myself, because the salvation 
of that soul will have been wholly the work of 
God: "Salvation is of the Lord."* 

' The gifts of knowledge, wisdom and elo- 
quence and even of working miracles, are graces 
that are called gratis data and are sometimes even 
given to the wicked. Sanctifying grace alone which 
is -given to him who lives in humility and charity 
is that which renders the soul precious in the eyes 
or God; but no one is sure of possessing it. 
■ 60. As paradise is only for the humble, there- 
tore in paradise every one will have more or less 
glory according to his degree of humility. God 
has exalted Jesus Christ in glory above all, be- 
cause He was the humblest of all: being the true 
Son of God He yet elected to become the most 
abject of al men. And after Jesus Christ the most 
exaltedof all was.His holy Mother, because being 
superior to all ,n her dignity as Mother of God 
she yet humbled herself more than all by her pro- 
found humihty. This rule, dictatedby thewisclom 
' Ps. iii, 9. 

78 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
of God, applies to all the other saints who are 
exalted iri their glory in heaven in proportion to 
their humility on earth. 

Holy Writ says truly that "Humility goeth 
before glory."* Job had said the same: "For he 
that hath been humbled shall be in glory ."f But 
the Saviour of the world spoke more plainly still 
when, having shown that humility was necessary to 
enter the kingdom of heaven, He called untoHim 
a little child, and said: "Whosoever therefore shall 
humble himself as this little child, he is the greater 
• in the kingdom of heaven." J And, Qh, how 
precious humility must be when God recom- 
penses it with eternal glory! Oh, my soul, lift 
up the. eyes of thy faith to Paradise, and consider 
whether it be not best to be humble in our short 
existence here on earth, so as to enter with joy 
into the immeasurable glory of that happy eter- 
nity? "For that which is at present momentary, 
worketh for us above measure exceedingly an 
eternal weight of glory." § Recommend thyself 
with all thy heart to that God, "Who setteth up 
the humble on high." II 

6 1. The proof of true humility is patience: 
neither meekness of speech, nor humbleness of 
bearing, nor the giving up of oneself to lowly 
works, are sufficient indications by which to 
judge if a soul is truly humble. There are many 

* Prov. xv, 33. + Job xxii, 29. £ Matt, xviii, 4. 
§ 2 Cor. iv, 17. || Job v, 11. 

79 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

who bear all the appearance of exterior humility, 
but who are angered at every slight adversity, 
and resent any little vexation which they may 
encounter. 

If under certain circumstances we show tolera- 
tion and patience in bearing an insult, in suffering 
a wrong in silence without indignation and anger 
or resentment, it is a good sign, and we may begin 
to conclude that we have some humility; but even 
then patience can only be an infallible sign of true 
humility when it proceeds from the recognition 
of our own unworthiness and when we tolerate 
the wrong .because we know that we ourselves 
are full of faults and are deserving of it. ' 

And how do we stand in regard to this pa- 
tience, O my soul? O my God, how much pride 
I find even in my patiencel Sometimes I suffer ' 
a wrong, but at the same time I feel that I am 
wronged. I suffer an insult, but consider that I 
do not deserve it: and if others do not esteem 
me, yet I esteem myself. 'Is there humility here? 
Not a vestige of itl ; 

The holy fathers attribute to Jesus Christ the 
words which the prophet says of himself: "For 
I am ready for scourges ";* because by reason of 
our iniquities which He had taken upon Him- 
self He considered Himself deserving of all the 
penalties and opprobrium of the world. Here is 
the pattern of true humility. 

* Ps. xxxvii, 18. 
80 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
Very different is the patience of the philoso- 
phers and stoics, and the patienceofworldlypeople 
from that of true Christians. The stoics taught 
great patience in their writings and by their ex- 
ample, but it was a patience that was the outcome 
of pride, self-esteem and contempt for others. The 
worldly-minded, it is true, bear the many anxieties 
and afflictions of their own state of life with pa- 
tience, but it is a patience that proceeds from 
interested motives or the necessity of worldly 
prudence. Christians alone possess that patience 
united to humility which receives every adversity 
with submission to the divine will: and this is the 
patience which is pleasing to God; for, as St 
Augustine says: "That which a man does from 
pride is not pleasing to God, but that which he 
does from humility is acceptable to Him." 

62. The following thoughts may sometimes 
trouble us: Who knows whether my past confes- 
sions have been good? Who knowswhether I have 
felt real sorrow for my sins? Who knows if my 
sins have.been forgiven? Who knows whether I 
am in the grace of God? Who knows whether 
I shall obtain the grace of final perseverance, and 
who knows if I am predestined to be saved? But 
it is not God's intention that this uncertainty 
should cause us these anxieties and scruples. In 
His infinite wisdom He has hidden from us the 
mysteries of His justice and mercy, so that our 
ignorance should prove a most efficacious help to 

81 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

keep us in humility. Therefore the profit we ought 
toderivefrom such thoughts is this: to live always 
in fear and humility before God, to do good dili- 
gendyand to avoid evil without ever exalting our- 
selves in our self-esteem above others because we 
do not know what our doom may be. "Serve ye 
the Lord with fear."* " Fear the Lord all ye His 
saints." f 

Such is the divine will towards us, manifested 
through St Paul. God expects us always to be 
humble, whether it be for that which He reveals 
to us or for that, which He withholds from us. 
When we read the Holy Scriptures, we find many 
prophecies proceeding from the Holy Ghost that 
terrify us; but many others that console us. When 
we read the writings of the holy fathers we find 
in them some judgements that are very terrible, 
and some that are very lenient. When we read the ' 
theological works of the scholastics we find in 
them opinions upon the subjects of grace and pre- 
destinationthatalarmusand others that encourage 
us. Why is this? The Providence of God has thus 
disposedit,so that between hope and fear we might 
remain humble. . 

The mysteries of grace and predestination 
would no longer be mysteries if we were capable 
of grasping them, with our understanding. To 
pause and consider whether God has forgiven our 
sins or not, and whether we are living in a state 
, *Ps. ii, ii. + p s . xxxiii, io. 

82 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
of grace, or whether we are predestined, etc., is in 
itself an act of temerity and pride, inasmuch as we 
are seeking to know the hidden judgements of 
God who does not wish us to know them so that 
we may remain in humility. "Be not high- 
minded but fear,"* says St Paul. 

63. I ought to be most grateful to any one 
who helps to keep me in humility by subjecting 
me to humiliations of word and deed, because he 
is co-operating with the divine mercy to fulfil the 
work of my eternal salvation. And although he has 
no thought of my .salvation when he offends me, 
he is nevertheless an instrument thereof, and all 
the evil comes from me if I do not make a good 
use of it. St Ambrose says of David when he was 
insulted by Semei with vituperations and stoning, 
that He ." held his peace and humbled himself," f 
keeping his mind fixed on thisone thought: "The 
Lord hath bid him curse me." J We are grateful 
to the surgeon who bleeds us, even though he may 
not be thinking of our health but of this particular 
office of his profession.Therefore if we understood 
this, not as Stoic philosophers but as good Chris- 
tians, we ought to be grateful to those who humi- 
liate us, for although they have no intention of 
making us humble but only of humiliating us, yet 
in reality this humiliation helps us to acquire hu- 
mility if such be our desire. « 

•Rom. xi, 20. + Lib. 1, Offic, cap. xviii. 

% 2 Kings xvi, 10. 

83 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
The benefit is a real benefit, although he who 
confers it has no intention that it should be so 
An insult is only an insult in the intention of the 
man who gives it, and the humiliation belongs 
only to him who receives it; and it is a most sure 
means of acquiring and practising humility, if he 
knows how to receive it in a Christian spirit. 

I o this end God permits us to be humiliated 
at times so that we may give a proof of our vir- 
tue in the furnace of humiliation," * and the 
teacherof this wise rule goes on to say: "Humble 
thy heart and endure." f : _ 

64. Everything depends upon the way in 
which we take things, To rule our life b/tne 
maxims of the world, is certain to inspire pride; 
and ,t is equally certain that to rule ourselves by 

Ac e co>dirr^ he Go r l * u ins P ire h «S£ 

fu twfth ?, r rW WC Sh0uld re P ulsea » in- 

he cl gCr T d If Cntment > but accor ding to 
prudlTlr Sh ? ld a - CCept itwith a hu ^le, 
hard. I But how much patience do we not exer- 
S t0 P JT e ^ eworl d! patience thatTs often 
iSr- thafw andsh t nit therefore be a «har3 
litv L f W6 , are * have P atie »ce and humi- 

mTne ItZ^T ^ Ah > miserabie *»l5f 
SI 5 u a »endto the things of this world 
he thoughts and ideas and scruples of hb world 
>tsobh gatlo s and opinionSj it / voMc l2^ 

Ecclus„ (5 . tE^sii,, Uohnvi.6,. 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
and caprices! I .know well that humility can only 
be laborious and wearisome in such an atmos- 
phere, so full of worldliness, for as Holy Writ 
says: "Humility isanabominationto theproud."* 
But let us rise above the world and its opinions, 
and in the light of the eternal truth of faith we 
shall find that this virtue is not only easy but 
sweet and pleasing, because all that Christ has told 
us is true, and after having exhorted us to learn 
humility from him, " Learn of Me for I am meek 
and humble of heart," He immediately added, 
" For My yoke is easy and My burden light." 
Truth cannot lie; it is we who refuse to listen to 
it. We are ruled by the world, and so to hear hu- 
mility spoken of is a " hard saying." But let us 
remember that it is a "true saying." For if we are 
not humble we cannot be saved. 

Great is the kingdom to which we aspire, says 
St Augustine; but humble is the way which leads 
to it: "Excelsa est patria, humilis est via." Of 
what use is our longing for paradise if we will not 
walk in the path of humility which is the only 
way that leads to it? "Why does he seek his na- 
tive land who refuses to follow the way that leads 
toit."f 

6$. When I consider the words which Jesus 
Christ addressed to His heavenly Father in prayer, 
saying that He did not pray for the world, " I pray 

• Ecclus xiii, 24. 
"Qui recusal viam, quid quaeritpatriara?" (Tract. 78.) 
85 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

notfortheworld"*— andagain that, when praying 
for .His disciples that His prayer might be more 
efficacious, He emphasized the fact that they were 
not followers of the world, "Theyarein the world 
but they are not of the world M — I confess that no' 
words of our Saviour in the whole Gospel terrify 
me more than these. For I perceive that it is ne- 
cessary for me to separate myself from the world, 
so that Jesus Christ may intercede for me. And' 
if I am a lover of the world, I shall be excommu- 
nicated by Jesus Christ and shall have no part in 
His intercessions and prayers. Theseare the words 
of Christ Himself: "I pray not for the world, but 
tor those who are not of the world." 

Let us really understand these words: 'that Jesus 
Christ excludes us from His kingdom if we be- 
long to the world,. that is to say if we wish to 
follow the maxims of the world which are nothing ■ 
but vanity and deceit and fill man with pride; the 
maximsof the world which the prophet says "turn 
as.dethewayofthehumble."t Meanwhile Jesus 
Uxnst is our advocate with the Father in so far as 
renewing our baptismal vow, we renounce the 
world and accept the maxims of the Gospel which 

htuF? ^ t0 make man humbIe - T ° serve 
both God and the world is impossible, because we 
could never please both_«he will hold to the one 
and despise" the other." J e 

To pretend to serve God and the world is the 

•Johnxvii, 9 . tAmosii,?. fLukexvi.ij. 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
same as to imagine that we can be both humble 
and proud at the same time. Vain dream ! 
- 66. -The most familiar meditation which the 
seraphic St Francis was in the habitof making was 
this, first he elevated his thoughts to God and then 
turned them towards himself: "My God," he 
would exclaim, "who art Thou? and who am I ?" 
And raising his thoughts first to the greatness and 
infinite goodness of God he would then descend to 
consider his own miseryand vileness. And thusas- 
cending and descending this scale of thought from 
the greatness of God down to his own nothing- 
ness the seraphic saint would pass whole nights 
in meditation, practising in this exercise a real, 
true, sublime and profound humility, like the 
angels seen by Jacob in his sleep on that ladder of 
mystical perfection "ascending and descending 
by it."* • 

This should be our model that we may not err 
in the exercise of humility. To fix our thoughts 
solely on our own wretchedness might cause us to 
fall into self-distrust and despair, and in the same 
way to fix our thoughts solely on the contempla- 
tion of the divine goodness might cause us to 
be presumptuous and rash. True humility lies 
between the two: "Humility," says St Thomas, 
"checks presumption and strengthens the soul 
against despair." f 

• Gen.xxviii, 12. 

f'Humilitas prtEsumtionem et firmat animum contra 
desperationem " (2a 2ae, qu. cbri, art. 1 ad 3). 

87 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
Distrust yourself and confide in God, and thus 
distrusting and thus confiding, between fear and 
hope, you shall work out your salvation in the 
spirit of the Gospel. 

We should first reflect upon the infinite mercy • 
of God, so as to excite our hope, as King David 
did: "Thy mercy is, before my eyes," and we 
should then reflect on His justice, so as to keep 
ourselves in the fear thereof: "O Lord, I will be 
mindful of Thy justice alone."* And also in turn- 
ing our thoughts to ourselves we should first 
reflectupon man as beingthe work of God created 
to His image and likeness, so as to give God the 
glory; thenwe should reflect upon the sinner in 
man which is our work and which ought to make 
us deeply dejected. "Man and sin," say St Au- 
gustine, "are as it were two distinct things. What 
savours of man God made, what savours of the 
sinner man made himself. Destroy what man has 
made that God may save what He has made."f 
> 67. Self-knowledge is a great help for acquir- 
ing humility; but in the midst of the many pas- 
sions, faults and vices of which we are aware, to 
recognize our own pride is the most useful of all. • 
For this vice is the most shameful of all, and even 
in our confessions it is more difficult for us to say 
truthfully: "I accuse myself of being proud and 
* Ps. lxx, 16. 

+ " Quasi duae res sunt homo et peccator. Ouod audis 
homo; Deus fecit; quod audis peccator ipse homo feci 1 * 
Dele quodfeast. ut Deus salvet quod fecit" (Tract? 3? inio * 

88 ; " 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
of not trying seriously to correct this fault" than 
toaccuse ourselvesof many other sins. Thisknow- 
ledge of our pride is most humiliating; for where 
certain other vices maybe pitied and excused for 
some reason or other, pride can never be pitied or 
excused, being a sin which is diabolical and odious 
not only to God but to men — as the inspired word 
says: "Pride is hateful before God and men."* 

Let us therefore examine ourselves daily on 
this point; let us accuse ourselves of it in our con- 
fessions; and acknowledging our pride in this 
manner will be an excellent incentive to become 
humble. Let us pray to Jesus Christ that He may 
do for us as He did for the blind man whom He 
healed, and ask Him to put the mud of pride 
upon our eyes so that we may be made to see. 
Let us say to God: "Thou art my God, that God 
who 'raiseth up the needy from the earth and 
lifteth up the poor out of the dunghill,'! grant 
that this pride which is my great sin may through 
Thee serve as an instrument by which I may at- 
tain to a virtuous humility!" 

68. Let us consider the things of this world 
in which we are apt to take a vain delight. One 
may pride himself on his robust health and bodily 
strength, another on the science, knowledge, elo- 
quenceandothergiftsthathe hasacquired through 
study and art. Another prides himself upon his 
wealth arid possessions; another upon his nobility- 

• Ecclus x, J. + Ps. cxii, 7, 
8 9 



K HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
and rank; another upon his moral virtues, or other 
virtues which bring him spiritual grace and per- 
fection : but must not all these gifts be regarded as 
so many benefits proceeding from God, for which 
we must render an account if we do not use them 
to resist temptation and conform to the ordination 
of God ? We are debtors to God for every benefit 
that we receive, and are bound to employ these 
gifts and to trade with' them for the glory of God 
like merchants towhomcapitalisentrusted. When 
we consider how many benefits, both of body and 
soul, we have received from Him, we are com- 
pelled to admit that there are so many debts which 
we have contracted towards Him, and why should 
we glory in our debts ? 

No prudent merchant, if he has large debts, 
would go and proclaim the fact in the market- 
place and thereby lose his credit; and how can we 
expect to gain credit by boasting of the many 
debts we owe to God? Debts so heavy that we 
run the risk of becoming bankrupt on that day 
when our Lord and Master will say : "Pay what . 
thou owest."* 

From the benefits we receive of God we should 
learn lessons of humility rather than of pride, 
following the teaching of St Gregory: "The more 
strict the account that a man sees he must give of 
his duties, the more humble should he be in the 
* Matt, viii, 28. 
9° 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS " 5 - -''"-* " ; ~- 

performance of them."* Our desire to boast of the 
favours we have received of God only demon- 
strates our ingratitude, and we have more cause 
to humbleourselves for being ungrateful than to 
glory in the benefits thus bestowed upon us. 

69. The true reason for which God bestows 
so many graces upon the humble is this, that the 
humble are faithful to these graces and make 
good use of them. They receive them from God, 
and use them in a manner pleasing to God, giv- 
ing all the glory to Him without reserving any for 
themselves. 

This is like the faithful steward who appro- 
priates nothing that belongs to his master; and 
thus deserves that praise and reward given to the 
faithful servant mentioned in the Gospel: "Well 
done, thou good andfaithful servant, because thou 
hast been faithful over a few things I will place 

thee over many things."! 

O my soul, how dost thou stand in regard to 
this faithfulness towards God ? Art thou not like 
those servants to whom their master daily entrusts 
money now to buy one thing, now another, and 
who each time keep back a small coin for them- 
selves, until little by little they become unfaithful 
servants and great thieves? In like manner, our 
pride renders us unfaithful servants when we at- 

• "Tanto ergo esse hurailior quisque debet eo munere. 
quanto se obliiratiorena esse coospicit iu reddenda ratione 
(Horn, ix in Evang.) 

t Matt, xxv, 21. 

9» 



3V.A 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
tribute to ourselves that praise which is due only 
to a gift that is entrusted to us by God and which 
ought to be ascribed unreservedly to Him. 

O Lord, Thou scest all my thefts and I am 
overwhelmed with astonishment that Thou dost 
still trust me! Considering my unfaithfulness I * 
am not worthy of the smallest grace, but make me 
humble and I shall also be faithful. 

It is certainly true that he who is humble is 
also faithful to God; because the humble man is 
also just in giving to all their due, and above all 
in rendering to God the things that are God's, 
that is, in giving Him the glory for all the good 
, that he is, all the good that he has and for all the 
good that he does; as the Venerable Bede says: 
"Whatever good we see in ourselves let us ascribe 
it to God and not to ourselves."* • 
.. 70- To give thanks to God for all the bless- 
jngswe havereceived andarecontinuallyreceiving 
is an excellent means of exercising humility, be- ' 
cause by thanksgiving we learn to acknowledge 
the Supreme Giver of every good: and for this 
reason it is necessary for us always to be humble 
before God. St Paul exhorts us to render thanks 
tor all things and at all times : « In all things give 
thanks ;| "Givingthanksalwaysfor all things."! 
tfut that our thanksgiving may be an act ofhu"- 

k;. *JlVl S ' q j l5d !l obis boni inesse deprehendimus. non no- 

92 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

milityitmustnotonly comefrom thelipsbut from 
the heart with a firm conviction that all good comes 
to us through the infinite mercy of God. Look at a 
beggar who has received a considerable gift from 
a rich man, with what warmth he expresses his 
gratitude 1 He is astonished that the rich man 
should have deigned to bestow a gift upon him, 
protesting that he is unworthy of it, and that he 
receives it,not through hisown merit,butthrough 
the noble kindness of the giver, to whom he will 
always be most grateful. He speaks from his heart 
because he knows his own miserable condition of 
poverty and the benign condescension of the rich 
man. And should the thanks we give to God be 
less than the thanks which are given from man to 
man? When one man can thus thank another, 
ought we not to blush with shame that there 
should be men who feel more humility of heart 
towards their fellow-men than we do towards 
God? 

O my God, I thank Thee with all my heart 
for these benefits which I have received through 
Thy goodness alone, which I have not deserved 
and for which I have never given Thee thanks 
till now! It was through pride that I failed to give 
Thee the thanks due to Thee, and it is through 
pride that I have enjoyed all Thy gifts as if I had 
not received them at Thyhands.I detest my pride, 
and with Thy help I will remember to give Thee 
thanks at all times and for all things: " I will bless 

93 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

the Lord at all times,"* praise, bless and thank 
Thee for all Thy mercies for ever and ever: "The 
mercies of the Lord I will sing for cver."f 

71. The important point is that our heart 
should be humble, because this is what Christ 
seeks in us above all things. It is useless to mend 
the case and hands of a watch unless we also adjust 
the wheels and works, and in the same way it is 
useless for anyone to be modest in attire and bear- 
ing if there be no true humility in the heart. 

We ought to apply our Saviour's sayings to 
ourselves: "ThoublindPharisee, first make clean 
the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the out- 
side may become clean," J and learn from the 
teaching of St Thomas that "from our interior 
disposition of humility proceed signs in words, 
deed and manner by which that is manifested 
without, which is within." § - 

I admit the truth of that which was so often 
repeated in Holy Writj that humility is a special 
gift of God, and that no one can possess itof him- 
self "except God gave it"; II but at the tribunal 
of God there will be no excuse for us for not hav- 
ing possessed humility, because we have been 
taught that we could obtain it by persevering 
prayer, and, if we have not used this means to 

* ,fs- xxxiii, '• • . t Ps. Ixxxviii, 1. X Malt, xxiii, 6. 

.§ Exmtenore dispositione.humilitatis procedunt signa 
in verbis et factis et gestibus, quibus id, quod interiuslatet, 
manifestatur " (2a 2ae, qu. clxi, art. 6). 
|| Wisd. viii, 21. 

94 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

obtain it, it will be our fault that we have not 
asked God for it, and therefore our fault that we 
have not obtained it. 

Our Saviour in His Gospel says: "Ask and 
you shall receive."* If you want anything of Me, 
ask and you shall be heard. And can this virtue 
cost us less than the simple effort of asking it 
of God with great insistence r Therefore do not 
let us cease to ask for it and by the very method 
of obtaining it our hearts, our looks, our words, 
our movements, our bearing, and even our very 
thoughts will all be humble: "For from the heart 
come, forth thoughts." f 

72. Weoftenlamentthatweareunabletopray 
becauseof the many distractions which hinder our 
recollection and dry up the source of devotion in 
our hearts, but in this we err and do not know 
what we are saying. The best prayer is not that 
in which we are most recollected and fervent, but 
that in which we are most humble; because it is 
written: "The prayer of him that humbleth him- 
self shall pierce the clouds." J And what distrac- 
"tionsof mind and heart can prevent our exercising 
humility? 

It is precisely in those moments when we feel 
irritable and tepid that we ought to show our hu- 
mility, and how ? By saying : O Lord, I am not 
worthy to remain here speaking to Thee so con- 

• John .xvi, 2.1. t Matt, xv, 19. 
J Ecclus xxxv, 21. 

95 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

fidentially, I do not deserve the grace of prayer 
because it is a special gift which Thou bestowest 
upon those dear to Thee. It is enough for me to 
be Thy servant, chasing away my distractions as 
so many flies. For flies do not fly round boiling 
water, but only round tepid water, and all these 
distractions arise from mygreat tepidity. Ah, what 
an excellent prayer ! So prayed Joshua, and the 
Lord heard his prayer: "Thou hast humbled thy- 
self in the sight of God,' 1 also have heard thee, 
saith the Lord." * So prayed King David too in 
the anguish of his soul' and was delivered: "I was 
humbled and He delivered me."t The more the 
soul exalts itself and takes pleasure in its own 
meditation, so much the more does God exalt 
Himself above that soul and remains apart from 
it. " Man shall come to a deep heart and God shall 
be exalted." J Do we desire thatGod in Hismercy 
should come nigh to us ? Let us humble ourselves.' 
"Dost thou wish God to draw near to thee ?" says 
St Augustine, "humble thyself, for the more thou 
raisest thyself, the more will He be above thee."§ 
* 73. Many people, when preparing for confes- 
sion, distress themselves because they do not feel 
sufficient contrition for their sins ; and in order to 
obtain it they beat their breasts to try and excite 
themselves to feelings of sorrow. But this is pride, 

s"v- r ^- xxxiv < 27 ' ' tPs.cxiv,6. J Ps. lxiii, 8. 

§ y.stib ip ropinquetDeus? Humiliate; namtanto ate 
ent altior quanto tu elatior" \Enarr. in Ps. cxli) 

.96 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

for they give us to understand that they can thus 
obtain contrition of themselves. You desire true 
sorrow for you sins? Then be assured that this 
is a singular gift of God, and that to obtain it 
there is no better means than to humble oneself 
before Him. 

Humility generates confidence, and God 
never refuses His grace to those who come to 
Him with humility and trust. Say therefore to 
God: I can remain here as long as I like and do 
all that I can to obtain sorrow for my sins, but it 
is impossible for me to attain to it of myself, if 
Thou dost not grant it to me, O my God! I do 
not deserve it, but Jesus Christ has merited it for 
me, and it is through His merits that I ask it, and 
through Thy infinite goodness that I hope to 
obtain it. 

Place yourself in this humble disposition of 
mind and you will be happy, for it is written 
of God: that "He comforteth the humble";* 
."and He hath had regard to the prayer of the 
humble and hath not despised their petition."! 
This sorrow or contrition by which the soul is 
sanctified is one of the greatest graces that God 
can give us, and it would be presumption, teme- 
rity, and pride on our part to pretend to this 
grace without having asked for it with due 
humility. 

74. A doubt may arise in our mind that since 
• 2 Cor. vii, 6. t Ps. ci, 18. 
97 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

(to, obtain tthe grace of ihumilitywe must ask it of 
(.God, and.askiit with humility ifwewish (God to 
lhear ( our|prayei;, ihow.can we ;possibly .ask with 
Ihumility since iitiis .precisely ithat 'humility which 
vwe have inot and ;for which \we ,are asking? Do 
not let (Us dose .ourselves -in such speculations, 
\Which .are useless in practice, since ".Simplicity 
,of heart is \what ithe Lord desires of ius." * 

There, are certain efficacious virtues that God 
ihas infused into <our souls in holy Baptism, inde- 
jpehdently ,of ,our .own .dispositions, "principally 
ihyi infusion in Baptism," says :St "Thomas. .Such, 
ifor^xamplejis faith, and such .also is that humi- 
lity which iis necessary for jus so that we may 
.believe ; and pray as we ought: Let us therefore 
exqrcise in our prayers this infused humility, 
and in making good .use ,of it we shall in time 
acquire that other (evangelical virtue which is 
necessary to our salvation .and which can only 
;be .obtained iby .our own co-operation, 

Prayer, says St Augustine, is essentially the 
resource ,of him who knows that he is both poor 
.and needy: "Prayer is only for the needy."f 
Let us acknowledge .and confess o ur poverty and 
indigence before Cod, md by this confession we 
jsbaU £xercise.humjlity, The really poor do not 
need to ibe taught how to ask alms humbly. 
Necessity js their master, and if man can humble 

^•"(P.r^pfl^^tnisiujKjigeptimn" {Enarr, t'nPs.xxri). 
98 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

himself before man, why should he not also 
humble himself before God ? 

If we wish to discern what belongs to God 
and that which is our own, it is sufficient for us 
to reflect that by rendering to God all that is 
His, nothing is left to ourselves but nothingness. 
So that we can truly say with the prophet: " I am 
brought to nothing."* This is a true saying, 
that all that is within us that is more than 
nothingness belongs to God, and He can take 
away what is His when He chooses without 
doing us any wrong. Therefore in what can we 
pride ourselves, since God can take anything 
.away from us the moment that we begin to 
glory in it? 

For he who glories in his wealth may soon 
become poor ; he who glories in his health may 
suddenly become infirm; he who glories in his 
knowledge may suddenly become insane; he who 
glories in his holiness may suddenly fall into 
some great sin. What vanity, what folly, then, 
to glory in that which is not our own, nor even 
in our power to keep! "What hast thou that 
thou hast not received ? "f 

This reflection alone should suffice to make 
us humble, and it may be said that all true 
humility depends upon our persevering seriously 
in this thought. Oh, my soul," thou shalt be 
humbled when, as God says by the prophet, He 
• Ps. Uxii, 21. t < Cor. iv, 7. 
99 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

will "separate the precious from the vile."* 
Thus the essence of humility consists in knowing 
how to discern rightly that which is mine, and 
that which belongs to God. All the good I do 
comes from God, and nothing belongs to me but 
my own nothingness. What was I in the abyss 
of eternity? A mere nothing. And what did I 
do of myself to emerge from that nothingness? 
Nothing. If God had not created me, where 
• should I be? In nothingness. If God did not 
uphold me at every turn, whither should I 
return? Into nothingness. Therefore it is clear 
that I possess nothing of .myself but nothing- 
ness. Even in my moral being I possess nothing 
but my own wickedness. When I do evil it is 
entirely my own work,' when I do good it be- • 
longs to God alone. Evil is a work of my own 
wickedness; good is a work of God's mercy. In 
this way we separate the precious from the vile; 
this is the art of all arts, the science of sciences, 
and the wisdom of the saints. 

76. Let us imagine a man who possesses 
, many beasts of burden which he has bought for 
t£e purpose of carrying such loads as he requires. 
I he beasts are loaded, one with gold, one with 
books of philosophy, mathematics, theology and 
law, another with weapons, another with sacred 
vessels and vestments belonging to the Church, 
and another with reliquaries in which are precious 
relics of the saints, and so on. 
• Jer. xv, 19. 
100 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
Now, if these animals could discourse among 
themselves, do you think that the one laden with 
gold would boast of his riches, and the one laden 
with books of his knowledge, and that in the 
same way the others would boast of bravery or 
of holiness according to the nature of their loads? 
Would not such pretensions be vain and ridicu- 
lous? Most certainly; for the rich and precious 
burdens borne by these animals belong to the 
master, and not to the beast. For the master 
might have laden with dung the one he loaded 
with gold or other precious things, and being 
their owner he could unload each animal when- 
ever he pleased, so that each one would appear 
. before him as he is, namely, a vile beast of 
burden. Or, with St Augustine, let us picture to 
ourselves the ass on which Jesus Christ sat when 
He was met by the multitude with their branches 
ofpalms,acclaimingHimwith criesof: "Hosanna 
to the Son of David, Hosanna!"* Who would 
be so foolish as to imagine that these honours 
were given to the beast? These praises were not 
given to the ass, but to Christ who was seated 
on the ass. " Was that ass to be praised? That 
ass was carrying some one, but He who was being 
carried was the one who was being praised." f 

• Matt, xxi, 9. 

t " Laudabatur jumentum illud? Nunquid jumento dice- 
batur hosanna? Asellus portabat ; sed ille qui portabatur. 
laudabatur" {Enarr. in Ps. xxxiii). 

IOI 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

Let us apply the simile to ourselves, saying, 
with David: "1 am become as a beast before 
Thee."* and whatever may be the object of our 
pride let us use this simile to exercise ourselves 
in humility. . . 

77. Wc may say with St Thomas,f that this 
craving of ours to be esteemed, respected and 
honoured is an effect of original sin, like concu- 
piscence which remains to us even after our 
baptism; but God has ordained that these appe- 
tites and desires should remain in us in order 
that we might have occasion of mortifying our- 
selves and that by such means wc might gain the 
kingdom of heaven. 

We need not be astonished nor sad when we 
feel these instincts within us. They belong to 
the wickedness of our corrupt nature and are 
remnants of the temptation of our first parents by 
the serpent, when he said to them: "And you 
shall be as gods." J Therefore I repeat that these 
desires which arise from the weakness and de- 
pravity of our human nature must be borne with 
patience. If these desires gain the mastery over 
us, it is because we have encouraged and given 
way to them; and a bad habit which we have 
formed ourselves can only be cured by ourselves, 
and therefore the mortification of the same also lies 
with us. This mortification of the senses, inspired 

* Ps. lxxii, 22. t 12, qu. iv, art. 2. 

J Gen. iii, 5. 

102 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
by humility, is taught by Christ in the self-denial 
which He imposed upon us when He said: "If 
any man will follow Me, let him deny himself."* 
And therefore I must draw this conclusion, that 
if I will not mortify myself with humility — that is 
to say, crush my self-love and craving for esteem 
— I shall .be excluded as a follower of Jesus 
Christ,and by such an exclusion I shall also forfeit 
His grace and be eternally exiled from participa- 
ting in His glory. 

But in order to practise it, it is necessary for 
me to do violence to myself, as it is written: 
" The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and 
the violent bear it away."f Who can obtain 
salvation, except by doing violence to himself? 
. 78. Let us listen at the gates of hell and hear 
'the lamentations of the eternally damned. They 
exclaim: "What hath pride profited us?" J What 
use or advantage was our pride to us? Every- 
thing passes and vanishes like a shadow, and of 
all those past evils nothing remains to us but the 
eternal shame of having been proud. 

Their remorse is vain, because it is the re- 
morse of despair. Therefore while there is still 
time let us consider the matter seriously, and say: 
" What advantage have I derived from all my 
pride? It makes me hateful to heaven and earth, 
and if I do not insist upon mortifying it, it will 

* Matt, xvi, 24. + Matt, xi, 12 J Wisd. v, 8. 
103 



.HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

make me odious to myself for all eternity in 
hell." Let us lift up our eyes to heaven, and, 
contemplating the saints, exclaim: "Behold how 
their humility has profited them! Oh, how much 
glory have they gained by their humility!" 
. Now, humility is looked upon as madness by 
the worldly, worthy only of scorn and derision; 
but a time will come when they will be obliged 
to recognize its Virtue, and to exclaim, in seeing 
the glory of the humble: " Behold how they are 
numbered among the children of God." * 

If I am humble, I shall be exalted with that 
glory to which God exalts the humble. O my 
God, humble this mad pride which " predomi- 
nates within me. " Thou shalt multiply strength 
,in my soul,"f for "my strength hath left me."J 
And I will not and cannot do anything without 
Thy help. In Thee I place all my trust, and 
beseech Thee to help me. " But I , am needy 
and poor; O God, help me. Thou art my helper 
and my deliverer: O Lord, make no delay."§ 

79. Truly, no one cares to be thought proud, 
for even according to worldly ideas the greatest 
blame that one can give to a man is to say that 
he is proud. And yet few try to avoid the very 
thing they would least desire to be accused of by 
others. 

If we feel inward satisfaction when we are 

•Wisd,v,5. t Ps. cxxxvii, 3. tPs.xxxvii, ii. 
§ Ps. lxix, 6. 

I0 4 * 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
given credit for a humility which we do not 
possess why do we not endeavour to acquire 
that with which we like to be credited? If we 
seek after the vain shadow of humility, it means 
that we care very little for the substance of this 
virtue. A man who would be contented with the 
appearance of virtue without trying to acquire 
>t in reality, would resemble a merchant who 
valued false pearls and gems more than real ones. 
O my soul, perhaps thou too art among 
those who, being proud, resent the accusation of 
pride and desire to be thought humble! This 
would be lying to thy own conscience, lying to 
God, to His angels, and to men. As St Paul 
says : "We are made a spectacle to the world, 
and to angels, and to men."* 

It is a shameful thing for us to wish to ap- 
pear humble when we are not so. There are 
certain occasions when in our interior acts we 
must practise humility; but we must watch over 
ourselves carefully, so that in thus practising it 
we may not desire to be thought humble. And 
that is why hidden acts of humility are safer than 
exterior ones. But if there is pride in wishing 
that the humility we have should be recognized 
and known, what measure of presumption would 
there not be in wishing to be thought humble 
when we have no humility? Let us beware lest the 
words of Holy Writ be applicable to ourselves: 
• i Cor. iv, 9. 



105 



HUMILITY. OF THE HEART 

"There is one that humbleth himself wickedly, 
and his interior is full of deceit."* 

80. The more we reflect upon this great 
virtue of humility, the more we should learn to 
love and honour it. It is natural to the soul to 
love a good which it recognizes as such, and 
there is no doubt that we shall love humility 
when we recognize its intrinsic value and the 
good that comes of it. Our- love of what is good 
is measured by our knowledge of it, and in the 
same measure that we love we desire. to obtain 
it, and in the measure^ that we desire it we em- 
brace the most proper and efficacious means of 
acquiring it. It was thus that the Wise man acted 
in order to obtain wisdom. He loved her, desired 
and prayed for her, and applied his whole mind 
to possess her, so great was the esteem in which 
he held her: "Wherefore I wished, and under- 
standing was given .me, and I preferred her' 
before kingdoms and thrones, and .esteemed 
riches nothing in comparison of her."f 

It is necessary to thoroughly understand this 
doctrine because we shall never succeed in acquir- 
ing humility unless we really desire to obtain it; 
nor shall we ever desire it unless we have learnt 
to love it, nor shall we love it unless we have 
realized what humility really is — a great and most 
precious good, absolutely essential to our eternal 
welfare. Consider for a little while in what 

• Ecclus x\x, 23. tWisd. vii, 7. 
106 



1 J mi i i *» — " "n nnrt i f im 



"*■ "'■ '» ^n fHttUM;itfi 7 ^i"^^Xjjl^ 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
esteem you hold humility. Do you love it? Do 
you desire it? What do you do to acquire it? 
Do you ask this virtue of God in your prayers? 
Do you have recourse to the intercession 
of the Blessed Virgin? Do you willingly read 
those books that treat of humility, or the lives 
of those saints who were most noted for their 
humility? "There is a certain will," says St 
Thomas, "which had better be called the wish 
to will than the absolute will itself';* by which 
it seems that we can will a thing and yet not will 
it. Therefore examine yourself and see whether 
your desire for humility be only a passing velleity 
or really in your will.' 

8 1. To be humble, we must know ourselves; 
and this self-knowledge is difficult, but only by 
reason of our pride, the principal effect of which 
is to blind us. Therefore to acquire the virtue of 
humility we must first fight against and subdue 
its enemy pride; and in order to overcome it — 
having prayed to God, with the valiant Judith: 
"Bringto pass, O Lord, that his pride may be 
cut off"— three other things are necessary. 

Firsdy, in meditating on the subject, we 
ought to feel hatred and abhorrence of our pride, 
because we can never get rid of all the ills that 
affect our soul as long as we continue to love 
them. Secondly, we must make a firm resolution 

' * " Magis est dicenda velleitas quam absoluta voluntas" 
(3 pa"., qu. mi, art. 4). 

.107 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

of amendment at all cost, because in whatever 
light we consider it, it will always be to our 
advantage. Thirdly, we should at once endeavpur 
to uproot all our habits of pride, especially 
those which are most predominant, for it is well 
known that the longer we allow a bad habit to 
grow, the stronger it will become, and the greater 
will be our difficulty in eradicating it: " And I 
said, now have I begun."* 

We must not lose heart or be discouraged 
but commend ourselves to God's mercy, this 
being above all things most necessary: "And 
He will doit."f It > s through God's grace alone 
that we can overcome our numerous evil pas- 
sions, and it is through Him alone that we can 
hope to subdue our pride. Let us therefore cry 
unto Him with King David : " My mercy and my 
refuge: my support and my deliverer. My pro- 
tector: and I have hoped in Him who subdueth 
my people under Him."^ 

82. Is it not well to apply ourselves to eradi- 
cate a fault, when we know that by so doing our 
hearts will be gladdened? And therefore is it not 
true that once our pride, which is the cause or 
so many of our troubles, is subdued, we shall be 
far happier? 

We feel a natural aversion towards the proud, 
and we cannot love them; but may not this 
instinct of aversion which we have towards the 

'Ps. lxxvi, 11. fPs. xxxvi, 5. JPs. cxliii, 2. 
108 . 



'■iiKffMiiiiiftd&nUit 



auafe^' ^•■j^ii 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
proud be felt by others towards ourselves? For 
it is true that "Pride is hurtful always."* Some- 
times we lament that others do not love or 
esteem us. Let us examine the cause, and we 
shall find that it proceeds from our pride. On 
the other hand, do we not see the affection that 
is generally shown towards the humble? Every 
one seeks their company, every one places confi- 
dence in them, every one wishes them well. This 
would be the case with us if we were humble; 
and what happiness we should feel in loving and 
being loved by all! It seems at first as if this 
were a question of human respect; but it is 
inspired by charity, and comes from God and 
from a desire to resemble Him. Humility is clad 
in the same garb as charity, which, St Paul says, 
"is patient, is kind, envieth not, is not puffed 
up, is not ambitious." f And it is easy to invest 
humility with the same virtuous intentions as 
charity. 

83. Pride is the root of all our vices, so that, 
when once we have uprooted it, those vices will 
little by little disappear also. This is the true 
reason of our having to accuse ourselves of the 
same sins over and over again in our confessions, 
because we never confess that pride which is the 
root of them all. We do not wonder when we see 
the fig-tree bearing its figs year after year, and 
the apple-tree its apples. No ; because each tree 

• Ecclus x, vii. f 1 Cor. xiii, 4. 
109 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

bears its own fruit. In the same way pride is 
rooted like a tree in our hearts; and our sins of 
anger, envy, hatred, malice and uncharitableness 
and rash judgements of others which we confess 
over and over again are the fruit of pride; but as 
we never strike at the root of this pride these same 
sins, like clipped branches, ever sprout out anew. 
Let us endeavour to eradicate pride thoroughly, 
following the advice of St Bernard : "Put the 
axe to the root"* and then we shall have 
great joy and consolation in our own conscience. 

We must regard pride as the king of all vices 
and follow the wise advice given by the king of 
Syria to his captains: "You shall not fight against 
any, small or great, butagainst the king only." f 
Judith too, by killing the proud Holofernes, 
conquered the whole Assyrian army. And David 
triumphed over all the Philistines by slaying the 
proud Goliath; and in like manner we shall also 
triumph, because by conquering pride we shall 
have subdued all other vices. . 

King David erred in one thing, for knowing 
Absalom to be the chief of the rebels he yet com- 
manded that he should neither be killed nor hurt: 
I'Save me the boy Absalom.";}: Alas, how many 
imitators he has found ! We know full well that 
pride is the chief rebel among all our passions, 
but notwithstanding it is the one which we seem 

• Securim ponito ad radicem (Serm. 2 de Assioni.) 
t 3 Kings, xxiii, 31. | 2 Kings, xvii, 15. 
• HO 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
to respect' the most, and which we almost fear to 
offend displaying even a tendency to encourage it. 

84. There are certain sins we seldom or never 
mention in our confessions, either because our 
conscience is. too easy and elastic or perhaps 
because we do not really desire to amend. Pride 
is one of these sins; there are but few who accuse 
themselves of it; but those who really wish to 
amend their lives should make it a special subject 
of their examen and confession, so as to learn to 
hate it and repent of it ; and to make firm resolu- 
tions of amendment in the future. 

Whoever desires to make a good confession 
should not only confess his sin, but also the reason 
and occasion of the sin ; saying for example: " I 
accuse myself of having taken pleasure in impure 
thoughts, caused by "my want of custody or the 
eyes, too great freedom of speech, and frivolous 
behaviour." And in the same way we must confess 
our sins of pride, saying: "I accuse myself of 
having been angry and annoyed with those around 
me, and the sole reason of my anger and annoy- 
ance was my pride. I accuse myself of having 
envied and even of having taken what belonged to 
others, only to satisfy my pride and vanity. I have 
also spoken with contempt of my neighbour and 
this again because of my pride, that can bear no 
one to be thought superior to myself." Continue 
to examine all your faults in the same way, and 
you will find the truth of the inspired words : 



111 



v! 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
"The spirit is lifted up before a fall" f and "Be- 
fore destruction the heart of man is exalted." f 

To subdue our pride it is well to mortify 
and shame it by these accusations which are also 
acts of virtuous humility, but it is most necessary ' 
too to insist upon our own amendment for "What 
doth his humbling himself profit him that doth 
the same again? "J 

It is not enough to confess our sins, Holy 
Writ says, but it is necessary also to amend them 
so as to obtain God's mercy: "He that shall 
confess his sins and forsake them shall obtain 
mercy." § 

85. Humility of heart, St Thomas teaches, 
has no limit, because before God we can always 
abase ourselves more and more even unto utter 
nothingness, and we can do the same to our 
fellow men ; but in the exercise of these exterior 
acts of humility it is necessary to be directed with 
discretion so as not to fall into an extravagance 
that might seem excessive. " Humility," says 
St Thomas, "lies chiefly in the soul, and therefore 
a nun may submit himself to another as regards 
his interior acts, and this is what St Augustine 
means when he says : « Before God a prelate is 
placed under your feet but in exterior acts of hu- 
mility it is necessary to observe due restraint." || 

' E ro y- *vi, 18. f Ibid, xviii, 12 

I tcclQs xxxiv, 31. § Prov. xxviii, 13. 

II Humihtas praecipue in anima consisttt; et ideo potest 
homo secundum mtenorem actum alteri se subjicere; et 

112 



it' 



i mi i .ihiii mni.m.ini,i,ii-,ii- ,n,- ■ i i l | hi ,i..i,ii|| n ii| i n r ii n ii m Hnr rr T"~ — 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

r ,.? r °/ 0Und humilit y should exist in every state 
of life, but exterior acts of humility are not ex- 
pedient to all. For this reason Holy Writ says : 
"Beware that thou be not deceived into folly and' 
be humbled." * 

We can learn of the pious Esther how to 
practise humility of heart in the midst of pomp 
and honours: "Thou knowest my necessity," she 
cried to God, "that 1 abominate the sign of my 
pride." f I_ attire myself in this rich apparel and 
• with these jewels because my position demands it; 
but Thou, Lord, seest my heart that through Thy 
grace 'I am not attached to these things nor to this 
apparel, and that I only wear them of necessity. 
Here indeed is a great example of that true in- 
. ward humility which can be practised and felt 
amid external grandeur. But now we- come to the 
point. This humility of heart must really exist 
before God, whose eyes behold the most hidden 
motions of the heart ; and if it does not exist 
; what excuse can we allege before the tribunal of 
God to justify ourselves for not having had it ? 
and the more easily we could have acquired it 
now, the more inexcusable will it be for us on 
that day. 

86. The'malice of pride lies in reality in the 
practical contempt which we show for God's will 

hoc est quod Augustinusdfcit: Coram Deo pralatus substra- 

tus sit pedibus vestris, sed in exterioribus humilitatis actibus 

est debita moderatio adhibenda (2a 23s,qu. clxi.art.3ad3). 

' * Ecclus xiii, 10. f Esther xiv, 16. 

"3 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

by disobeying it. Thus it is, says St Augustine, 
there is pride in every sin committed, "by which 
we despise the commandments of God."* And 
St Bernard explains it in this way, that God com- 
mands us to do His will: "God wishes His 
will to be done";f and the sinner in his pride 
prefers his own will to the will of God : " And 
the proud man wishes his own will to be done." J 
And it is this pride that so greatly augments 
the grievousness'of sin; and how great our sin 
must be when, knowing in our minds that God 
deserves to be obeyed by us, we oppose our will 
to the will of God, whom we know to be worthy 
of all obedience. What wickedness there is in 
saying to God, "I will not serve," § when we 
know that all things serve Him."|| To give an 
example of this, let us imagine a person endowed 
with the noblest qualities possible, such as health, 
beauty, riches and nobility, and with every 
natural gift and grace of body and soul. Now, 
little by little, let us take away from that person 
all those gifts which come from God. Health 
and beauty are gifts from God; riches and rank, 
learning and knowledge, and every other virtue 
are all from God; body and soul belong to God. 
And this being so, what remains to this person 

• "Qua Dei praecepta contemnimus " (Lib. de Salut. 
aocum. c. xix). \ 

+ "Vult Deus suam voluntatem fieri." 

nJL"\ Et su P erb " T s VU, J fieri suam " ( Ser >»- 4 invig. Nat, 
Dom.) ... $J,-r. 11,20. - || Rs.Vxviii, 9 t. • s 

114 



t lH M t m lit m n 4 M M H *Ut 



* *miwmimM>nvmwiS!i\i?fa ] g$%w 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
of his own? Nothing; because all that is more- 
than nothing belongs to God. 

But when this person says of himself: " I have 
riches, I have health, and I have knowledge," etc., 
what is" meant by this "I"? Nothingness; and 
yet this "I," this nothingness, that derives all it 
possesses from God, dares to disregard this same 
God by disobeying His sovereign command- 
ments, saying to Him, if not in words most • 
certainly in deeds, which is far worse, "I will 
not serve " ; no, I will not obey. Oh, pride, 
pride! But, O my soul, "Why doth thy spirit 
swell against God ?"* Am I not right in preach- 
ing and recommending this humility to thee? 
Each time thou sinnest thou art like the. proud 
Pharao, who, when he was told to obey the 
commandments of God, said: "Who is this 
God?. I know Him not."f 

87. The mistake lies in our having too high 
an opinion of what the world calls honour, 
esteem and fame. For however much the world 
may praise or honour me, it cannot increase my 
merit or my virtue one jot; and also if the world 
vituperates me, it cannot take from me anything 
that I have or that I am in myself. I shall know 
vanity from truth by the light of that blessed 
candle which I shall hold in my hand at the hour 
of my death. What will it profit me then to have 
been esteemed and honoured by the whole world, 
• Tob. xv, 13. ■ + Exod. v, 2. 
"5 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
if my conscience convinces me of sin before God? 
Ah, what folly it would be for a nobleman, 
possessing talents which would endear him to 
his king and make him a favourite at court, if he 
were to seek rather to be adulated by his servants 
and menials, and to find pleasure in such misera- 
ble adulation. But it is a far greater folly for a 
Christian, who might gain the praise and honour 
of God and of all the angels and saints in heaven, 
to seek rather to be praised and honoured by men 
and to glory in it. By humility I can please 
God, the angels and the saints; therefore is it not 
a despicable pride that makes me desire the 
esteem, praise and approbation • of men, when 
we are told that "He is approved whom God 
commendeth?"* 

The thought of death is profitable in order to 
acquire humility; and humility helps us greatly 
to obtain a holy death. St Catherine of Siena, 
shortly before her death, was tempted to thoughts 
of pride and vainglory on account of her own 
holiness; but to this temptation she answered: 
" I render thanks to God that in all my life I have 
never felt any vainglory." Oh, how beautiful to be 
able to exclaim on one's death-bed: I have never 
known vainglory. 

88. Even admitting the value of the world's 

esteem and fame for the sole reason that we love 

and desire it in our hearts, we can infer from this 

• 2 Cor. x, xviii. 

Il6 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
how great is the virtue of humility, since, offer- 
t ing all that we hold so precious to God together 

j. with our self-esteem, we offer Him something 

\ that we value very highly. 

4 The vow of chastity is considered heroic, be- 

1 cause we thus sacrifice to God the pleasures of the 

j - • senses. Martyrdom is considered heroic, because 

\ , the martyr thus offers up his life as a holocaust to 

/ God. And it is also considered heroic to give all 

one's goods to the poor. But our self-esteem is 
certainly what we hold more precious than either 
money, gratification of the senses, or even life it- 
self, because we often risk all these things for the 
sake of our reputation. Thus by offering our self- 
esteem with humility to God we offer that which 
we deem most precious. 

This is truly offering "sacrifice to God, and 
a. good savour."* Those who live in the world 
can often gain more merit by their humility of 
heart than those who are vowed to poverty and 
chastity in the sacred cloister, for it is by the 
practice of this humility that we form within our-, 
selves the "new creature," without which St Paul 
says that " Neither circumcision availeth anything 
nor uncircumcision,"f which is as much as to say 
that whether you are priest or layman your state 
can avail nothing without humility. 

Humility without virginity may be pleasing 
to God, but never virginity without humility. 

* Ecclus xlv, 20. . t Gal. vi, 15. 
117 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
Were not the five foolish virgins displeasing to 
Him? "Vanitate superbitc," says St Augustine. 
And if the Blessed Virgin herself pleased God by 
her virginity, she also deserved to be chosen for 
His Mother because of her humility, as St Bernard 
says: "By her virginity she pleased God, by her 
humility she conceived Him."* 

89. It is very easy for a proud person to fall 
into grave and terrible sins; andafter having fallen 
to find great difficulty in accusing himself of them 
in the sacrament of penance; for loving his self- 
esteem and reputation too well and fearing to lose 
them in the eyes of his confessor, he would rather 
commit a sacrilege than disclose his weakness. 
He goes in search of a confessor to whom he is 
unknown so as to avoid shame; but since he fell 
no shame in sinning, why should he feel so much 
shame in confessing his sin, if it be riot from mo- 
tives of pride? 

My soul, say to thyself: The reason why I do 
not feel true sorrow for my sins is because of my . 
lack of humility, for it is impossible for the heart 
to fed either attrition or contrition if it is not 
u t Z ' l kck humilit 7> and »t is for this reason 
that I have not the courage to confess my sins 
straightforwardly and without excuse. Ask God 
tor humility; and in measure as thy heart grows 
more humble, it will feel deeper sorrow for hav- 

" MissS'est-'f.' 6 Pla ° Uit ' humilitate concepit" (Horn. 1 sup. 

Il8 



I THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS ' 

j ing offended Him, and from this heartfelt humi- 

lity the words will flow without difficulty to thy 
j lips, because "He that pricketh the heart bring- 

1 eth forth resentment."* 

/'• It is pride that compels us to withhold our 

j sins in the confessional and seek to palliate their 

\ . wickedness with many excuses. O accursed 

pride, cause of innumerable sacrileges! But O 
blessed humility ! King David was humble in his 
repentance, because he did not excuse his sins but 
publicly accused himself of them ; nor did he lay 
the blame of his own sins on others, but attributed 
them only to his own wickedness : "I am he that 
have sinned."! A "d the Magdalen also in her 
| repentance did not seek for Jesus Christ in some 

{ hidden spot, but sought Him in the house of the 

Pharisee and desired to appear as a sinner before 
all the guests. St Augustine, being truly humble 
in his repentance, gave the confession of his sins 
to the whole world for his own greater confusion 
and shame. 

90. It is difficult for us to realize our own 
. nothingness, and it is difficult also to refer all 
things to God without' reserving anything for 
ourselves, because is not our industry, our dili- 
gence, and the co-operation of our will really 
ours ? Let us admit this, but if we take away the 
light, the help and the grace received of God, what 
remains to us of all these things? Our natural 
* Ecclus xxii, 24. f 2 Kings xxiv, 17. 
"9 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
actions only become meritorious when they are 
supernaturalized by Christ Jesus. It is Jesus 
Christ who raises and ennobles all our actions, 
which in themselves would be entirely inadequate 
to procure for us the glory of eternal life. . 

How the will is moved by grace to co-operate 
with grace is a mystery which we do not fullycom- 
prehend; but it is certain that if we go to heaven 
we shall then render thanks for our salvation to 
the mercy of God alone: "The mercies of the 
Lord will I sing for ever."* We may therefore 
say with holy King David, and be fully per- 
suaded of its truth, that human nature is weaker 
and more impotent than we can imagine, because 
in the nature which we have received of God we 
have only, through the fall of Adam, ignorance 
of mind, weakness of reason, corruption of will, 

il S °[ der ° f the P assions > sickness and misery of 
the body. We have nothing therefore in which 
to glory, but in all things we can find fit cause 
for humiliation. « Humble thyself in all things "t 
says the Holy Ghost, and He does not tell us to 
humble ourselves in some things only but in all 
things— in omnibus. 

9 1 . Holy humility is inimical to certain subtle 
speculations; for instance, you say that you can- 
not understand how it is that you are yourself 
mere nothingness, in doing and being, because 
you cannot help knowing that in reality you are. 
* Ps. lxxxviii, 2. t Ecclus Hi, 20. 



120 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
something and can do many things; that you 
cannot understand why you are the greatest of 
all sinners, because you know so many others 
who are greater sinners than yourself; nor how 
', it is that you merit all the vituperations of men, 

| when you know that you have done no actions 

worthy of blame, but, on the contrary, many 
worthy of praise. You should reprove yourself 
for being still so far from true humility in think- 
ing that you could grasp the meaning of these 
things. The truly humble believes that he is of 
himself mere nothingness, a greater sinner than 
others, inferior to all, worthy of being reviled by 
all as being, more than all others, ungrateful to 
God. He knows that this feeling of his con- 
science is absolutely true, and does not care to 
investigate how this comes to be true; his know- 
ledge is practical, and even if he does not under- 
stand himself; and cannot explain to others, with 
subtle reasoning, what he feels in his heart, he 
minds as little being unable to explain this as he 
minds his inability to explain how the eye sees, 
the tongue speaks, the ear hears. And from this we 
may infer that it is not necessary to have great 
talents in order to be humble, and therefore 
before the tribunal of God it will not be a valid 
excuse for us to say:" " I have not been humble 
because I did not know, because I did not under- 
stand, because I did not study." We can have a 
good will, a good heart, and yet not be clever; 



121 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

and there is no one who cannot grasp this truth, 
that from God comes all the good that he possesses 
and that no one has anything of his own except 
his own malice. " Destruction is thy own, O 
Israel: thy help is only in me,"* said God by 
the mouth of His prophet. 

92. Humility is a potent means of subduing 
temptation, and in the same way temptations 
serve to maintain humility; because it is. when we 
are tempted that we are practically conscious of 
our own weakness and the need we have of 
divine grace. * •- > 

It is for this that God permits us to fall into 
temptation, reducing us sometimes to the very 
brink of succumbing to it, so that we may learn 
the weakness of our virtue and how much we 
need the help of God. 

And even in this we can see the infinite 
wisdom of God who has so disposed that the 
demons themselves, spirits of'pride, should con- 
tribute to render us humble if we only knew how 
to make a good use of our temptations. Never- 
theless, we must remember that in all our tempta- 
tions the first thing is to exercise that humility 
which is derived from a practical knowledge of 
ourselves and of how prone we are to evil if 
God does not stretch out His hand to restrain 
us through His grace. Do not let us wait to 
learn our weakness till we have fallen; but let us 

* Osee xiii, 0. 
122 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
rather know it beforehand, and the knowledge of 
it will be an efficacious means to keep us from 
falling. "Before sickness take a medicine; .... 
humble thyself,"* says Holy Writ. 
, . The' humble will never want for grace in the 
time of temptation, and with the help of this 
grace they will even derive profit from these 
very temptations; for the merciful providence of 
God has so disposed it that with the special aid 
of His grace He will "let no temptation take 
hold on you."f 

93. Let us strive with all our might to acquire 
this holy humility; and if, by the help of God, 
we succeed in possessing it only in such measure 
as our state of life demands, we shall then either 
imperceptibly attain to all other virtues or this 
humility alone will suffice to compensate for all 
our deficiencies. Many people desire to possess 
either chastity or charity, gentleness or patience, 
or some other virtue of which they are more in 
need, and are most anxious to know how they 
are to acquire it; they consult various spiritual 
directors to learn what means to take, but very 
few exercise due prudence in the choice of these 
means. 

Do you wish to know the most efficacious 

means of acquiring these virtues? Then begin 

by endeavouring to acquire humility; impregnate 

yourself with humility, and you will soon find 

• Ecdusjtviii, 20, 21. + 1 Cor. x, 13. 

"3 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
that all other virtues will follow without any 
effort on your part, and you will exclaim with ' 
great joy: "Now all good things came to me 
together with her."* And even when, through 
the frailty of your own nature, you are deficient 
in some particular virtue, humble yourself, and ' 
that humility will fully compensate for your 
other deficiencies. 

There are some who are troubled because 
their prayers are full of distractions. This' pro- 
ceeds from pride, which is presumptuous enough 
to be astonished at the weakness and impotency 
of the mind. When you perceive that your 
thoughts are wandering, make an act of humility, 
and exclaim : " O my God, what an abject creature 
I am in not being dble to fix my thoughts on 
Thee even for a few moments." Renew this act 
of humility as often as these distractions occur, 
and if it is written of charity that "it covereth a 
multitude of sins," f it is also true of humility 
and contributes greatly to our perfection. "The 
very knowledge of our imperfection," says St 
Augustine, "tends to the praise of humility.";): 
94. We have more opportunities of practising 
humility than any other virtue. How many .. 
occasions we have of humbling ourselves secretly, 
m all places, at all times, at every turn— towards 
•Wisd.vii, n. fipet. iv, 8. 



124 



• THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
God,our fellow-men, and even towards ourselvesl 
With regard to God : how much we have to 
be ashamed of in our ignorance and ingratitude 
towards Him; receiving as we do continual bene- 
fits of His infinite goodness. Knowing as we do 
His supreme and infinite Majesty, deserving of 
all fear; His infinite goodness, worthy of all love; 
how much we ought to humble ourselves in the 
thought of how litde'fear and love we have for 
Him! With regard to our neighbour: if he be 
wicked, we may humble ourselves by reflecting 
that we 'are capable of becoming suddenly worse 
than he, and in fact we may consider ourselves 
worse already if pride predominates within us. 
If he be good, we must humble ourselves in the 
thought that he corresponds better than we do 
to the grace of God and is better than we are by 
reason of his humility of heart. With regard to 
ourselves, we need never lack opportunities of 
humility when we remember our past sins, or con- 
sider the faults we commit at present in our daily 
life, or even when we reflect upon our good 
works which are all tainted with imperfection, or 
when we think of the future so filled with tre- 
mendous uncertainty : " I know how to be 
brought low everywhere and in all ' things," * 
says St Paul. It is necessary for us to form the 
good habit of frequently renewing these interior 
acts of humility. Humility is merely a virtuous 
• Phil, iv, 12. 
125 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
habit, but how can we acquire this habit without 
making repeated acts of humility ? Like the habit 
of humility the habit of pride is acquired through 
frequent repetition of its acts, and in proportion 
as the habit of humility is strengthened, the' 
contrary habit of pride becomes weakened and 
diminished. 

95. Lucifer sinned once only through pride 
of thought. Ought we not therefore to consider 
ourselves worse than Lucifer as our pride has 
become habitual through the frequent repetition 
of its acts? We do not consider ourselves proud, 
I because it does not seem to us that we are rash 

enough in our minds either to believe that we 
resemble God or to rebel against God; but this 
is the greatest mistake we can make, because we 
are full of pride and will not recognize that we are 
proud. Even if we have not sufficient pride to 
rebel, to think or to speak against God, we must 
be fully aware that the pride which prompts our 
actions is far worse than the pride of thought, 
and is that pride which is so condemned * by 
St Paul : "They profess that they know God, but 
in their works they deny Him."* 

How great is our self-love! Do we ever 

. mortify our passions for the love of God as He 

Himself has commanded? How often do weprefer 

to follow our own will instead of the will of God, 

and as His will is contrary to our own we place 

' 'Tit. i, 16. 

?26 



■ ■■i» ft" . a a Ua ^.i Hm;-. a ^^. lt ^,^ | , i t ^ t: |.1 M ftillil. 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
ourselves in opposition to Him and desire to 
gain our own will instead of fulfilling His, valuing 
the satisfaction of our desires more than the 
obedience we owe to God 1 Is not this a worse 
pride than Lucifer's ? for Lucifer only wanted to 
make himself equal to God, whereas we wish to 
raise our will above God's. Thou must humble 
thyself, O my soul, even below Lucifer, and 
confess that thou art more proud than he ! 

96. We may compare ourselves to those who, 
suffering from foulness of breath consequentupon 
some disease, are rendered objectionable to those 
who approach them, although they are unaware 
of it themselves. In the same way when we are 
corrupted by interior pride we breathe the ex- 
ternal signs of it in our words, looks and ges- 
tures and in a thousand other ways as occasion 
may arise, and yet, though our pride is apparent 
to all who approach us, we ourselves ignore it. 

I am considered proud by thosewho knowme, 
and they are not mistaken, for I show it by my 
vanity, arrogance, petulance and haughtiness. 
I only do not know myself as I am, and if I ques- 
tion myself: Am I proud? Oh, no — I answer, 
offering to myself incense which is more nauseous 
than all. 

97. It is necessary to discern in the Gospel 
those things which are of counsel and those which 
are of precept. To renounce all that one has and 
to suffer poverty for the love of God is only of 

127 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

counsel, but to renounce oneself and to be poor 
of heart is of precept. And in the same way cer- 
tain exterior humiliations may be only of counsel, 
but the humility of heart is always of precept, 
and as it is not only possible to fulfil every pre- 
cept of God's, but also by the help of His grace 
it becomes easy and sweet to us to practise them; 
even laymen have many great opportunities of 
becoming holy simply by the exercise of humility. 
To make a worldly-minded man a saint it is 
sufficient to make him a Christian. 

When such thoughts as these arise in the 
secret recesses of the heart : I have made this 
fortune by my knowledge, by my industry; I have 
acquired this merit, this reputation by my own 
worth,my virtue, my ingenuity,it is enough tojift 
up one's heart to God and say with the Wise Man: 
"And howcouldanythingendure,if Thouwouldst 
not ?" * O my God, how could I have done the 
smallest thing, if Thou hadst not willed it ? 

This is true humility, and in this lies true 
knowledge and holiness. The soul is holy in 
measure as it is humble, because in the same 
measure that it has holiness it has grace, and in 
the same measure that it has grace it has humi- 
lity, because grace is only given to the humble. 

From the depths of my heart, O my God, I 
ask it of Thee, and with the Psalmist I exclaim: 
" Renew a right spirit within me." f 
•Wisd.xi, 26. +Ps. 1, 12. 
" 128 



■^ utaaw ad m i hK tfwm mifr i frrtrtv 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
98. But the greatest motive we have to oblige 
us to be humble is the example of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who came down from heaven to 
teach us the humility of which we stood in such 
need to cure our pride, the cause of all our ills, 
and the greatest impediment to our eternal sal- 
vation. "Therefore Christ" says St Thomas 
"recommended humility to us above everything 
else, because by this more especially all hindrance 
to the salvation of men is removed."* 

And in truth He has taught us most excel- 
lently, not only by word but by deed. Let us 
meditate upon the life of our Lord on earth, from 
' the cave of Bethlehem to the cross' of Calvary; all 
breathes of humility. More than once did He 
declare in the Gospel that He came not to fulfil 
His own will but that of His heavenly Father; not 
to seek His own glory but that of His heavenly 
Father: andasHepreachedsoHelived. Hemight 
have glorified the Divine Majesty in divers other 
ways; but, in His infinite wisdom, He chose the 
way of humility as the most suitable one for 
rendering unto God, by His own humility, that 
honour of which the pride of man has deprived 
Him. 

What humility, to be born in a stable — He 
who was the King of Glory! What humility in 

•Ideo Christus praecipere nobis humilitatem commendavit, 
quia per hanc maxime removetur impedimentum humans 
salutis (2a 2X, qu. clxxi, art. 5 ad 3). 

129 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

Him, who was innocence itself, to appear as a 
sinner at the circumcision! What humility in the 
flight into Egypt to escape the persecution of 
Herod, as if He had been incapable of saving 
Himself otherwise than by flight! What humility 
in His subjection to Mary and Joseph, He who 
was King of the whole universe! What humility 
in living for thirty years a hidden life of poverty, 
He who could have been surrounded by all the 
splendour of the world! With what humility He 
bore all the insults and calumnies He received 
in return for the truths He preached and the 
miraclesHe worked, never complainingorlament- 
ing those ills that were done to Him, nor the 
injustice that was shown to Him! Oh, if one could 
have looked into His Heart, one would have seen 
that His humility was not obligatory but volun- 
tary, "because it was His own will."* 

He desired to humble Himself thus in order 
that we might make Him our pattern, and He 
says to each one of us: " For I have given you 
an example, that as I have done to you so you do 
also,"f which means that He gave us this example 
so that we might learn to humble ourselves even 
as He humbled Himself from His heart. Ah, will 
not these examples of a God who became man and 
humbled Himself suffice to rouse in us the wish 
to become humble also? " Let man be ashamed 

• Isa. liii, 7. f John xiii. 15. 
130 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

to be proud," says St Augustine, " for whose sake 
a God became humble."* 

99. And what lessons of humility may we not 
learn from the sacred Passion of our Lord? St 
Peter tells us that Jesus Christ suffered for -us, 
'leaving us His example so that we might imitate 
Him: " Christ also suffered for us, leaving you 
an example that you should follow His steps."f 
He does not pretend that we ought to imitate 
Him by being scourged, crowned with thorns, 
or nailed to the cross. No; but in all His life, 
and especially during His Passion, He repeats 
that important exhortation that we should learn 
of Him to be humble: "Learn of Me, because I 
am meek and humble of heart.'/ J 

My soul, let us gaze upon the Crucified, 
"Who endured the cross, despising the shame"; § 
and by thus confronting His humility with our 
pride we shall be filled with shame and confusion. 
And learn yet another lesson. Does it seem well 
to thee to adore the humility of Jesus crucified 
and not to wish to imitate Him? To profess to 
follow Jesus Christ in His religion, which is 
founded on humility, and yet to feel aversion 
and even hatred towards this very humility? 
• But when we so often hear it said and 
preached that whoever wishes to be saved must 

* "Tam tandem erubescat homo esse superbus 1 propter 
quern factus esthumilis Deus" {Enarr. in Ps. xviii). 
t 1 Pet. ii, 21. J Matt, xi, 2Q. § Heb. xii, 2. 

»3* 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
imitate theSaviour, in what do we imagine that 
this imitation, which is commanded to us and 
which is necessary for our salvation, should con- 
sist if not in humility ? It is all very well to say 
that we must imitate Jesus, but in what must we 
imitate Him if not in this humility which is the 

s " mr n m S- u P of a11 the doctrine and examples of 
His life? 

For that Humble One on the Cross will be 
our Judge; and His humility will be the standard 
by which it will be seen whether we shall be pre- 
destined for having imitated it, or eternally con- 
demned for having rejected it. It is necessary for 
us to be firmly convinced of this truth. God does 
not propose that -we should all imitate His 
Incarnate Son in all the mysteries of His life. 
1 he solitude and austerity which He endured in 
the desert are reserved only for the imitation of 
anchorites. In His teaching He is only to be 
imitated by the apostles and preachers of His 
Gospel. In the working of miracles only those 
can imitate Him who have been chosen by Him 
to be co-adjutors'in the establishment of the 
*aith. In the sufferings and agony of Calvary 
none may imitate Him but those to whom He 
has given the privilege of .martyrdom. 

But that humility of heart practised by Jesus 
„tZ\ m u Ve 7 hour ° f His life on «rth is 

S^?f 1 r J! S aSan exam P Ie whi <* ^ are 
compelled to follow, and to this imitation God 

• 13* 



antaiaifr 4t Wiri tfr iHih iWJtfttMWIM lii Mil J ftit fl Pft tH 



Z Z L. ( " " ' *.- - - 

•*"*/• L'r-. il Z >■ *" ' 

THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 
has united our eternal salvation : "Unless you be 
converted and become as a little child." * 

We may believe that Jesus Christ was com- 
paring Himself with a little child whom He had 
before Him when He said: " Unless you be con- 
verted and become as little children, you shall 
not enter the kingdom of Heaven." f 

ioo. After Jesus Christ, who is King of the 
humble, what a beautiful example of humility we 
have in the Blessed Virgin Mary who is their 
Queen! No creature ever surpassed her in merit, 
or exceeded her in humility. By her humility 
she deserved to be the Mother of God, and by 
humility only she maintained the dignity and 
honour of the sublime Maternity. 

Let us picture Mary in her room at Nazareth 
when it was announced to her by the Archangel 
Gabriel that the time had come for the Eternal 
Word to. take flesh in her womb, through the 
operation of the Holy Ghost. She showed no sign 
of pride at being blest among women and chosen 
for such a high honour, but on the contrary she 
was distressed and "was troubled at his saying," \ 
without being able to understand why she was 
chosen for so great an honour. And what does 
she exclaim ? 1, — the Mother of God ! I, a vile 
creature, to become the Mother of God ! I am 
but His servant, and it would be too much hon- 
our for me even to be His handmaid. "Behold 

• Matt, xviii, 3. f Matt, xviii, 3. % Luke i, 29. 
»33 



A.v-.r 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

the handmaid of the Lord."* Thus Mary humbled 
herself as much as lay in her power; and she 
continued in this deep humility all through her 
life, behaving in all things as the servant of the 
Lord, without ever attributing to herself the 
•slightest glory for being His Mother. What a 
beautiful example for us 1 Therefore if we have 
devotion to our Lady we ought to try and imi- 
tate her in her humility; and in all the prayers, 
communions and mortifications that we offer in 
her honour let us always ask her to obtain for us 
through her intercession the grace of holy humi- 
lity. There is no grace that our Blessed Lady 
asks so willingly of Jesus for her. devotees, and 
which Jesus concedes so willingly to Mary as 
the grace of humility, since both Jesus and Mary 
hold this virtue in singular affection. 

Let us recommend ourselves to her protection 
and place all our confidence in her, entreating her 
for the love she herself bears to humility to grant 
that we may also become truly humble of heart; 
and let us not doubt but that our earnest, prayers 
will be heard and our desires granted. 

O my soul, it is through humility that we 
shall reach paradise. And what shall we do in 
paradise? There the practice of all other virtues 
ceases and only charity and humility remain. We 
shall see God, and in seeing Him we shall 
know that He is the infinite Good; and this 
• Luke i, 38. 
•34 



sc&a&iai»BwfoiHiyiAdt8Ma 



THOUGHTS AND SENTIMENTS 

perfect knowledge will bring with it more per- 
fect love, and the more we love God, the better 
wc shall know Him, and the bettcrwe knowHim, 
the more humble we shall be, practising humility 
through all eternity like the ancients seen in the 
Apocalypse by the Apostle St John: "Who fell 
on their faces and adored God, saying, We give 
Thee thanks, O Lord God almighty, who art, 
and who wast, and who art to come."* Let us 
begin to practise on earth those virtues which we 
hope to practise for ever and ever through all 
ages in heaven: "Our Lord Jesus Christ humbled 
Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to 
the death of the cross. For which cause God also 
hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name 
which is aboveall names."t "Deliver me, O Lord, 
from the evil man, rescue me from the unjust 
man." J Who is this wicked and unjust man from 
whom I pray to be delivered? He is my inner 
self who is all vice, corruption and pride, and it 
is the same as if I were to say: "Deliver me, 
O Lord, from myself, that is, give me grace to 
amend and reform myself in order that I may no 
longer be that earthly, worldly and proud creature 
which 1 have been hitherto, dominated by passion, 
but that I may be renewed, and' may conform to 
the spirit of my humble Lord and Master Jesus 

• Apoc. xi, 17. t Phil, ii, 8, 9. 
+ Ps. exxxix, 2. 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
Christ." "Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil 
man; rescue me from the unjust man." 

Trayer • 

O God, who resistcst the proud and gi vest Thy 
grace to the humble, grant us the grace of true hu- 
mility, of which Thine only begotten Son showed 
forth in Himself an example to the faithful, that 
we may never, puffed up by pride, incur Thine 
anger, but that, submissive to Thy will, we may 
receive the gifts of Thy grace.' 



>36 



Practical Examen on the Virtue of 
Humility 

NOW that you are conversant with .the 
idea of humility, in its necessity, its 
excellence and its motives, I am per- 
suaded that a fervent desire to practise it has 
been excited in yOur heart. But because, on the 
one hand, you cannot do this without the special 
help of God, and, on the other, God will . work 
nothing in you without you — that is, without 
the co-operation of your own will — it therefore 
follows that when you have invoked the divine 
help, not doubting but that you will receive it, 
you must apply yourself to adopt those means 
which are most likely to help you to attain that 
virtue. 

And because all the masters of spiritual life 
agree in this, that it is most efficacious to make 
a particular examen every day on the virtue which 
we wish to acquire, 1 will expound for your 
enlightenment a practical examen on Christian 
humility; and, in order that you make a good use 
of it, I offer you three words of advice. 

The first is thac in making your examen once 
a day, at least, in order to mark those faults which 
you may have committed against humility, .you 

»37 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
must not examine yourself each time upon every 
fault that you may have noted down, but begin 
by choosing not more than one or two of the 
most flagrant ones which you arc in the habit of 
committing, and thus, after having accustomed 
yourself to amend these, you will. pass on little 
by little to the others, until pride will gradually 
be eradicated ■ami humility will spring up in 
your heart. 

This is alsd the manner in which we ought 
to meditate. Certain general resolutions, such as 
to subdue pride and to practise humility, are 
never of any use; but, on the contrary, they 
frequently generate confusion and create conflict 
in the mind: therefore it is necessary to go into 
particulars of those things in which during the 
day we have been most sensible of our imper- 
fections, and even then we must not form a • 
general intention not to fall into them- again all 
our life through, but it is enough that we should 
make a firm resolution not to fall into them again 
during that one day. It was thus that holy King 
David made resolutions. and renewed them, not 
trying to keep them from year to year, nor from 
month to month, but from day to day: "I will 
pay my vows from day to day."* And in order' 
to keep them one cannot sufficiently urge the 
necessity of imposing upon oneself some penance 
and of accomplishing it faithfully. For example, 
• *Ps. Ix, 9 . 
138 



THE VIRTUE OF HUMILITY 

as many times as I have failed to keep my resolu- 
tions to-day, so many times will I kiss the wound 
in the side of Christ, and recite devoudy as many 
Hail Marys, etc. 

The second is to take these faults which form 
the subject of our examen, and to accuse our- 
selves of them in our confessions, in order to 
make us still more ashamed of our pride before 
God, and also because the Sacrament of Penance 
confers a singular grace of its own in helping us 
to amend those faults of which we therein accuse 
ourselves, as St Thomas teaches.* And although 
none- of these defects can absolutely be called 
sins, and are simply imperfections, it does not 
follow that we must not pay any heed to them, 
because they either- serve to keep us in vice or 
are an impediment to virtue. 

When it is a question of humility, which is 
the most necessary virtue for our eternal salva- 
tion, it is always better and safer to have too 
much of it than to have too little. And it is cer- 
tain that he who is content to have only that 
' amount which is absolutely essential to him will 
never really acquire that virtue. "Unless you 
become as little children, you cannot enter into 
the kingdom of heaven," said the Saviour of the 
world, and we have no other way of becoming 
as litde children than to eliminate our self-love 
by the vigorous exercise of humility. 

• P. 3, qu. lxxiiv, an. 8 ad i. 
139 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
The third is that you should often read this 
practical examen, in order to reflect seriously upon 
yourself and to see how you stand in regard to 
humility, so that you may not be of those who 
think they are humble and are not really so. 

,St Thomas says that it' is for humility to 
examine the faults committed against any virtue 
whatsoever. How much more, therefore, should 
it examine those faults which are committed 
against this very humility 1 
•-You will find many little points in this 
examen, but if you find yourself defective in 
many of them, you must not regard them from 
the point of view of their size but of their num- 
ber, and the more you find that they are habitual 
with you - the more they should fill you with fear 
and apprehension. And in proportion as you find 
that you are not humble in this point or that, 
you will be able to infer that you are proud; and 
if this examen on humility only teaches you 
to know your own pride it will not be a small 
gain, because we begin to be humble when we 
°pen our e yes and recognize that we are proud. 
Many things considered in themselves are 
only of counsel; but in respect to such arid such 
circumstances they can nevertheless be of obliga- 
tion, and are necessary also so that we may not 
transgress the precept, according to the teaching 
or bt Inomas.f In conclusion, you must not 
1 3a 2aj, qu. Ixxii, art. j; et qu. clxxxvi, art. 2. 



THE VIRTUE OF HUMILITY 

make this examen with scruples or much anxiety, 
as if every imperfection were a sin and as if you 
had the presumption to will to be humble all at 
once, nor must you reject with contempt all that 
does not seem to you positively of precept. 

You must be solicitous in your wish and 
desire to acquire humility, and you should have 
diligence and care not to omit those means which 
would lead you to gain it, and then recommend- 
ing yourself to God continue to make this examen 
according to the inspiration of God and the dic- 
tates of' your own conscience. As humility may 
be considered under three different aspects, in 
relation to God, our neighbour and ourselves, 
and practised in two ways, that is to say in- 
teriorly and exteriorly, it therefore follows that 
we can sin in these several ways, as we sin against 
thelawsofanyothervirtue, either by our thoughts, 
words, deeds or omissions. Let us therefore pro- 
ceed now to the examen of our faults. 



»4i 



Examen on Humility towards God 

THE first act ofhumility,saysStThomas,* 
consists in rendering ourselves entirely 
subject toGodwith the greatest reverence 
for His infinite Majesty, before which we are as 
nothing: "All nations are before Him as if they 
had no being at all."t But do you ever consider 
your nothingness before God? — and that all the 
being you have, you have from God? — and that 
through intrinsic necessity you depend so entirely 
upon God that without Him you cannot do any- 
thing good— "for without me you can do no- 
thing? "J— that without God you neither think 
nor say nor do anything that is good ? 

This is of faith. "No man can say the Lord 
Jesus but by the Holy Ghost." § "Not that we 
are sufficient to think anything of ourselves as 
of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God."H 
"For it is God who worketh in you both to will 
and to accomplish according to His good will."f 
It is not enough only to say I know all these 
things, but it is necessary to realize them to 
become really humble. 

• 2a 2ae qu. clxi, art. 2 ad 3 ; et qu. clxii, art. s. 
t Isau vl, 17. t John xv, 5. § 1 Cor. xii, 3. 
|| 2 Cor. 111, 5. 17 Phil, ji, 13. *•' 

'42 ' 



HUMILITY TOWARDS GOD 

The Angelic Doctor teaches that the reason 
why humility tends principally to render the soul 
subject to God is because this virtue is nearest 
to the theological virtues, and as it does not 
suffice only to know what things we must believe 
or hope, but it is also necessary for us to make 
acts of faith and hope, so in the same way we 
must make like acts of humility. 

Christ Himself taught humility of heart, and 
the heart must hot remain idle, nor fail to pro- 
duce the necessary acts — and what acts of humility 
do you make before God? How often do you 
make them? When have you made them? How 
long is it since you made them " 



? 



,"-> 



It would be absurd to hope for the reward . 
which is promised to the humble without being 'i 
humble, or at least without the desire to be hum- 
ble, and without making acts of humility; 
humility of heart without the heart humbling 
itself— what folly ! And are you foolish enough 
to believe that this can be done ? 

Sometimes you give utterance to certain 
words which seem to tend to your own humilia- 
tion ; you say you are a contemptible wretch, and 
good for nothing, but do you say such things 
sincerely from your heart? If you are afraid 
of lying to yourself by confirming them in your 
own mind, listen to what St Thomas* tells us 
for our instruction, that everyone can truthfully 
* Loc. cit. art. 6 ad i. 
»43 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

sayand believe of himself that he is a contemptible 
wretch, referring all his ability and talent to God. 

103. But how are we to make these practical 
acts of humility before God? I will give you 
some examples. You can imagine yourself in the 
presence of God now as a convicted felon who 
humbles himself and implores mercy for the for- 
giveness of his sins: "Have mercy upon me, O 
God, according to Thy great mercy";* now as 
a miserable needy beggar who humbles himself 
and asks alms to help him in his necessity : "Give 
us this day our daily bread"; now as the sick 
man near the Pool of Bethsaida, who humbled 
himself before the Saviour to be healed of his 
incurable disease : "Sir, I have no man";t now as 
that blind man who humbled himself that his 
darkness might be illuminated: "Lord, that I may 
see"; now as the Canaanite woman who humbled 
herself and exclaimed: "Have mercy on me, O 
Lord, help me,";}: and who was not ashamed to 
liken herself to the dogs who are unworthy to 
eat their master's bread, but are content to eat 
the crumbs that fall- from his table. Humility of 
heart is ingenuous, and in the same manner as 
our heart loves without needing to be taught to 
love, it humbles itself without needing to be 
taught humility. 

104. There are certain cases in which we are 
obliged to make acts of virtue— such as faith, 

• Ps. 1, 1. f John v, 7. X Matt, xv, 22, 25. 
M4 



HUMILITY TOWARDS GOD 

hope and charity — which some necessity, circum- 
stance, or duty of our state of life may exact, and 
there arc certain cases in which we must make 
acts of humility in our hearts. 

First of all it is necessary to humble ourselves 
when we approach God with prayer to obtain 
some grace, because God does not regard, nor 
heed, nor impart His grace except to the humble. 
"The Lord lookcth on the low,"* "The prayer 
of the humble hath always pleased Thee,"f " God 
giveth grace to the humble."}; When therefore 
you come to ask God for some grace of the body 
or of the soul, do you always remember to practise 
this humility ? 

When we pray, and especially when we say 
the "Our Father," we are speaking to God; and 
how many times, when you are saying your 
prayers, do you speak to God with less respect 
than if you were speaking to one of your fellow 
creatures ? How often when you are in church, 
which is the house of God, do you listen to a 
sermon, which is the Word of God, and assist at 
the functions of the service without any reverence? 

Humility of heart, says St Thomas, § is ac- 
companied by exterior reverence, and to be lack- 
ing in this is to lack humility, and is therefore 
a sin of pride, "which excludes reverence." 

105. But the more essential the grace we are 

• Ps. exxxvii, 6. t Judith it, 16. J James iv, 6. 
§ 2a 2X, qu. clxi, art. 2. 

»45 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
asking of God is for us, the more necessary is hu- 
mility. Before going however to the tribunal of pe- 
nance doyou humble yourself,and ask God tomve 
you that sorrow for your sins which is necessary 
for the validity of the sacrament ? As this sorrow 
must be supernatural, it is certain that you could 
never attain to it of yourself, however much you 
were to try and force yourself to feel it. God' 
alone can give it to you, and it is equally certain 
that this is not a debt which He owes you but 
a great grace which it pleases Him to confer upon 
youout of His goodness alone and without any 
merit on your part. If, however, you desire to 
receive this grace, you must ask it with humility, 
protesting from your heart that you do no 
deserve it, that you are unworthy to receive it, 
and that you only hope for it through the merits 
of Jesus Christ. But doyou practise this humility, 
which is, one may say, of precept for.you, because 
\l e ?u" t,al means of Staining contrition? 

*J Ju Same Can be said of y° ur resolu- 
tions, which are equally necessary td render the 

SS3 n ^' Th u SC reS0luti0 " s must °e con- 
stant and efficacious, but cannot be so without the 

El dp ?/ G f P° y° U ever think of hum! 
K?f Md ask »g for that help, knowing 

and tS v SSmg y ° Ur ,nStabiHt > r and weakness, 
and that you are not capable of yourself to keep 
the smallest resolution, either from morning tS 
mght or even from one hour to another? g 

146 



'*4a- — ' 



HUMILITY TOWARDS GOD 

It is for this reason that you so often fall 
over and over again into the same faults, because 
you are lacking in humility. The truly humble 
man is altogether diffident about himself, and 
putting all his trust in God, is helped in the most 
admirable way by Him. "Humble thyself to God 
and wait for His hands."* 

How many times do you not say: " I have 
taken this firm resolution, and I mean to keep 
it, I am not afraid of breaking it," trusting 
iniquitously in yourself, without acknowledg- 
ing the divine help in any way? Take care 
that you may not be counted among 'those 
reprobates " who were destroyed trusting to their 
own strength."! If you even presume only a little 
upon yourself, that little can be the cause of great 
ruin, according to the prediction of Job: "They 
are lifted up for a little while, and shall not stand, 
and shall be brought down."J 

107. And how do you practise humility in 
your sacramental confession? It is in your con- 
fession that you should humble yourself like a 
guilty malefactor in the presence of your Judge. 
" Humble thy soul to the ancient."^ This advice 
comes from the Holy Ghost. 

How often do you not try to appear innocent 
in the very act of accusing yourself of guilt — 
now by excusing your sins, now by covering or 

• Ecclus xiii, 9. t Ecrlus xvi, 8. J Job xxiv, 24. 
5 Ecclus iv, 7. 

»47 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

diminishing their malice/now by putting the 
blame on others instead of taking it yourself? 
This is a real Jack of humility, and of that 
humility which is not of counsel but of precept. 
You should say with David: "I said I will con- 
fess against myself my iniquity unto the Lord "* 
I he shame which prevents you from confessing 
your sin clearly and plainly, comes from pridl 
alone. ' 

1 08. There are some people who, under the 
pretext of making acts of humility, desire from 
time to time to accuse themselves in their confes- 
sion of some grave and shamefulsin of their past 
Me. If peradventure vou are among these, beware 
lest this anymore from a desire to appear hum- 
ble than to.be humble in reality. Self-love is 
cunning, and knows how to work secredy. 
„ T , lh,s Ht. was discovered by St Bernard: 
The more subtly vain confession is, the more 
dangerously hurtful it is, as when, for instance 
we are not ashamed to reveal our shameful deeds 
not because we are humble but that we mav 

£?£/* so r ™ hat r rc pervcrse or "' 

houlWnV eS - S, ° n,t 1 he - Uardian of humility, 
should take service under the banner of pride?"t 



• Ps. xxxi, 5. , 



quia humUes P sumus sed ut J« ^^ n0 Z Y tTemur . non 
militet?" (firm, vi ;>/ 6W ) * COnf « s, °. superbia: 



HUMILITY. TOWARDS.GOD : V 

This kind of humility is not always desirable 
even outside the confessional, because it can easily 
lead us to create scandal by speaking of certain 
sins which should not even be named. If you 
have this strange fault, there is no reason why 
you should pride yourself on it, but you should 
rather be ashamed of it; for, as the holy abbot 
says: ." What species of pride can this be, that 
thou wouldst fain be better by what thou appearest 
to be worse? That thou canst not be thought holy 
without seeming to be wicked?"* 
• 109. And also, after confession, you must 
remember the sins you have committed, in order 
to excite your heart to feelings of shame and 
sorrow, humbling yourself before God. But do 
you remember to exercise yourself in this humi- 
lity? This is a humility of precept. " The whole 
life of the Christian must be one long penance."! 
Thus speaks the holy Council of Trent, where 
the whole Church of Christ was assembled, and 
its dogmas are infallible not less in matters of 
morality than in those of faith. 

The Council of Trent says " must be," which 
is a formula not of exhortation but of necessity; 
and it does not prescribe such penances as scour- 
gings, hair shirts, or fasts, but speaks generally; 
and we cannot interpret the sense of these words 

* "Quale jactantia: penus ut vclis inde videri detenor? 
Ut non possis putari sanctus, nisi apparea* sceleratus?" 
_ t " lota vita Christiana perpetua debet esse poenitentia " 
(Sess. i, cap. ii). 

149 



A'' 



V/Air HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
with more discretion than by saying: « If you can- 
not perform certain exterior penances, you must 
nevertheless never neglect those interior penances 
which consist in the contrition and humiliation 
ot the heart, saying with David: 'Have mercv 
upon me, O God ... . against Thee only have 
I sinned. . . .A contrite and a humble heart, O 
God, Thou wilt not despise.'* " Do you practise 
this penitential humility? O my God! Your sins 
are so numerous, and yet you live in absolute 
forgetfulness of them, as if you were innocent! 
Do you remember the obligation you are 
under to think often: " What have I done? What 
great evil have I done to offend God?" Pray to 
Ood that He may give you light to know the 
gravity of your sin, and you will have that con- 
tinual wnrow which King David had, if you can- 
say with himr « I acknowledge my iniquities." 

v™ 1 i a r? ownece , ssar y hum 'l'tyis, in order that 
you should approach Holy Communion worthily, 
you own , faith can teach you. But in your pre- 
paration for that divine Sacrament and 7 in your 
hanksgiving, do you make due acts of humility? 

hnmH-r th ^u ym kncel dow " J » «" Verier 
nonul U r d bCa » , y ° U [ bfeaSt at the " D °™e 

hol7&on h r Wh ' Ch 1S beC ° m *** SUcha 
The centurion was sanctified when he received 

150 



**«»- 



HUMILITY TOWARDS GOD 
Jesus Christ in his own house, because he pre- 
pared himself to receiveHim with deep humility 
and said, more from his heart than with his lips, 
"Lord, 1 am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter 
under my roof." * This mystery more than others 
alls for humility, and when the Son of God toojc 
flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it 
was specially by virtue of her humility, "because 
He hath regarded the humility of His hand- 
maid." t Oh, if you were to reflect that it is a 
God you are going to receive; but do-you think 
of this as God Himself exhorts you to do? "Be 
. still and see that 1 am God." % 

in. How do you humble your intellect in 
regard to the mysteries of the Catholic Faith ? 
Are you curious in seeking and wishing to know 
the reasons for those things which the Church 
proposes for your belief, inclining to surrender 
yourself more to human reasoning than to Divine 
authority ? In matters of faith it is most necessary 
to practise humility, and the more humble our 
belief, the more honour it gives to God. 

It is for this reason that Holy Writ, after 
having said that God is honoured by the humble, 
exhorts us emphatically to humble our intellect: 
"He is honoured by the humble. Seek not the 
things that are too high for thee, and search not 
into things which are above thy ability ; but the 
things that God hath commanded thee, think on 
•Matt.viii.8. t Luke 1,48. tPs.xlv, 11. 
151 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
them always, and in many of his works be not 
curious."* When it is a question of faith the 
Apostle teaches us that wc must not seek to know 
the why ami wherefore, but to humble any height 
of our understanding in lowly reverence to Jesus 
Christ, "bringing into captivity every under- 
standing unto the obedience of God." f This is 
most necessary. 

And especially when we have temptations 
against faith, it is necessary that we should humble 
ourselves immediately, without entering into 
argument or dispute with the devil. But are vol 
prudent in taking these measures at once, and do 
you say with King David, I will not pause to 
consider these speculations in «great matters nor 
in, things too wonderful for me m $± 

112. But if we are bound to humble our in- 
tellect in the things that touch our belief, we must 
not humble our will the less to do those thhms 
which are commanded to us. In this the substance 
ot true humility principally consists, but how do 
you observe ,t? Do you humbleyourself promptly 
n obed.ence to the divine commandments, per- 
suaded that you arc placed in this world only to 
do the will of God and not your own? When 
you recite the Our Father, whit thought do you 
give to these words, "Thy will be done"?$ How 
often do you say them only with your lips and 
not from your heart ? ' 

•Eccwiii,". ,£«■*•<> • :ps.c«x. 2 . • 

5 Matt, vi, 10. 
'52 



HUMILITY TOWARDS GOD 

113. When you attempt to disobey any of 
the divine commandments how do you behave? 
It is especially in the time of temptation that 
humility is necessary. Every time the devil tempts 
you to commit some grave sin, he tempts you to 
revolt against God,and to despise and offend Him. 

114. How do you resign your will to the 
will of God in the time of adversity, which is 
especially the time when we ought to humble 
ourselves, as the Holy Ghost tells us by. the 
mouth of St Peter : "Be thou humble therefore 

, under the mighty hand of God " ? * 

As all the troubles of this world are ordained 
by God, and yours are sent to you by Him es- 
pecially to humble your pride and keep you in 
due humility, do you really receive them with 
such intention as to correspond with the intention 
of God, saying with the Prophet: "It is good for 
me that Thou hast humbled me " ? f 

The best means to oblige God to deliver us 
from our troubles is to humble ourselves, and 
King David testifies to this by his own experience 
in Ps. cxiv, 4, 6: "I met with trouble and sorrow, 
I was humbled and He delivered me." Do you 
ever practise this means of humbling yourself in 
your troubles, protesting that you have merited 
them, and deserve them if for no other reason 
than on account of your pride ? 

God sends adversity to you to humble you, 

• i Pet. v, 6. tPs. cxviii,7i. 
153. 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

and He humbles you so that from this humilia- 
tion you may learn humility. But what fruit of 
humility have you gathered from all the adversity 
you have had hitherto ? Can you say, as Moses 
said to the Hebrews: "We have rejoiced for the 
days in which Thou hast humbled us " ? * 

115. If you have any good quality, either 
bodily or spiritual, and if you have done any 
good. work, do you recognize that it all comes 
from God, attributing all the glory to God as 
due to Him alone? "To the only God be honour 
and glory." f In this, says St Paul, we discern the 
spirit of God which is the spirit of humility, 
fromthe spirit of the world which is" the spirit 
of pride, because whoever has the spirit of God 
acknowledges that all that he has is simply a gift 
from God. "Now we have received not the spirit 
of the world but the spirit that is of God, that 
we may know the things that are given " us 
from God."! 

But of what use would this recognition that 
everything comes from God be, except to refer 
all things to Him and to thank Him? Do you 
thank God for the many blessings which you are 
constantly receiving from Him— from your very 
heart, with true humility, believing yourself to 
be so miserable that you would fall into every 
sin, and even into hell itself, if God did not 
come to your help? "Unless the Lord had 
• Ps. Ixxxix, 15. ta Tim. i. 17. J 1 Cor. ii, 12. 
154 



HUMILITY TOWARDS GOD 

been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in 
hell."* 

Nothing is so contrary to true humility as to 
seek one's own esteem in the exercise or good 
works. Do you sometimes do good from motives 
of human respect, in order to be seen— esteemed? 
"Take heed," Christ says to you," that you do 
not your justice before men, to be seen by them."f 
You are merely robbing God of glory, when from 
the gifts He has given you, you reserve some of 
the glory for yourself. Examine your intentions; 
are they purely directed to the glorification of 
God? 

And granted that in doing good you do not 
seek the esteem of men, do you sometimes 
do this in order not to lose the good graces and 
favours of others, conforming to their spirit, 
which is to live according to the usage of the 
world in the forgetfulncss of God? This is also 
loving the glory of the world more than the 
glory of God, and is a fault which is greatly 
opposed to humility, and which was condemned 
in those chief men among the Jews who believed 
in Christ, but from fear of the Pharisees and out 
of respect to their opinion did not dare to con- 
fess Him, " for they loved the glory of men 
more than the glory of God."J 

117. Have you perhaps a conscience which 
is timorous by reason of many scruples? If such 

• Ps. xciii, 17. + Matt, vi, 1. J John xii, 43. 
155 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
be the case, examine yourself, and you will proba- 
bly find that the true reason of your scruples 
lies in your self-love, that is, in your pride. 

You are indocile, and you do not know 
how to submit to that which your directors tell 
you to do ; and St Thomas teaches that this is an 
effect of pride, "because docility is the beautiful 
daughter of humility and disposes the soul to 
' obedience."* 

How is it when we read the lives of the saints 
we do not find that they were agitated by these 
scruples? The saints were humble, and where 
humility is there also is tranquillity of mind. We 
know that many scrupulous persons have been 
cured of their scruples, which were considered 
almost incurable, by no other means than by say- 
ing to God with their whole. heart: "I accuse 
myself of pride; I am sorry for my pride, and I 
ask Your help in order to amend my great pride." 
• But if you find that you are scrupulous less 
rrom indocility than from cowardice,go for advice 
once more to St Thomas, who teaches that this 
cowardice also comes from pride, because in judg- 
ing one s own sufficiency we set our own judge- 
ment in opposition to that of others.f 

Do you wish to enjoy the peace of a quiet 
conscience and also of certain spiritual consola- 
tions which are a great help in aiding you to do 

! ** !*• 9«- xlviii; ct qu. xlix, art. 3 ad 4. 
t 2a 23c, qu. exxxiii, art. 1. ? 

156 



HUMILITY TOWARDS GOD 
willingly all that is necessary to lead a devout 
life and to be ever more fervent in the service of 
God? I cannot give you better advice than this: 
Give yourself to humility, and God will fill your 
soul with ineffable consolation. "And my spirit 
hath rejoiced," says the Blessed Virgin in her 
canticle; and she adds, for your instruction, that 
this exultation was sent to her by God because 
of her humility: "Because He hath regarded the 
humility of His handmaid." * 

1 1 8. If you have a sincere wish to save your 
soul, you must take those means which God has 
ordained for you, and the principal and most 
essential one is humility, as is shown in holy 
Scripture: "For Thou wilt save the humble 
people."f "And He will save the humble of 
s PJnt."i "Glory shall uphold the humble of 
spirit."§ And how do you esteem this humility? 
How do you practise it? How fervently do you 
ask God for it? Do you hold it to be of precept, 
or only of counsel which you are at liberty to 
choose or reject at will? The entrance to paradise 
>s not only narrow but low, therefore Jesus 
Christsaid: "Unless you become as littlechildren, 
you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven."B 
And into this kingdom he alone can enter who 
"shall humble himself."^ 

There is always danger on the journey to- 

* £" ke i. 4 8 « t Ps. xxxiii. 10. t Ps. xvii, 28. 

J Itov. xxix, aj. H Matt, xvlii. 3. H Ibid, xviii, 4. 

157 



M 



.HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

wards 'our heavenly home for those who hold 
their heads high, and it is safer to keep them 
bowed low. This is a general rule for all. 

St John of Chrysostom warns us: " When 
our Lord said, ' Learn of Me, because I am meek 
and humble of heart,' it was not merely to monks 
that He spoke, but to all classes of men."* 

Humility of heart was not commanded by 
. Jesus Christ only to religious, but also to seculars 
whoever they may be and without any exception. . 

• "Cum dixit Dominus, Discite a me, quia mitis sum et 
humilis corde, non monachos tantum alloquiiur, sed etomne 
prorsushominum genus. Omnesomninohocimperioconvenit, 
nullum excepit" (Lib. j). 



***».»- 



Examen on Humility towards our 
Neighbour 

ACCORDING to the doctrine of Saint 
Thomas* the first act of humility consists 
in subjecting ourselves to God, and the 
next is to subject — that is to say to humble 
— ourselves to our neighbour for the love of God ; 
as the Holy Ghost says through St Peter: "Be 
ye subject therefore to every human creature for 
God's sake" ;f and the same Holy Spirit exhorts 
us through St Paul to excel each other in- hu- 
mility. "In humility let each esteem others better 
than themselves." J 

120. Now as your neighbour can be either 
your superior, your equal or your inferior, it is 
certain that you must practise humility first of all 
towards your superior which is of precept, for, 
as St Peter says, such is the will of God : " For 
so is the will of God." § 

Do you show to your superiors and betters 

that obedience and reverence which your state 

exacts ? How do you receive their reprimands ? 

Do you feel that humility of heart towards them 

"with a good will serving"! which St Paul 

enjoins ? 

• 2a 2x, qu. chci, art. 3. + 1 Peter ii, 13. t P hil - "• 3- 
5 I Peter ii, 15. || Eph. vi, 7. 

159 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

There is a humility necessary for the imitation 
,__of Christ, " Who humbled Himself, becoming 
obedient unto death."* There may sometimcs.be 
an excuse of impotence or inadvertence in not 
obeying those whom God has set over you,' but. 
to refuse to obey is always an act of inexcusable 
pride. As St Bernard says: "To be unwilling to 
obey is the proud effort of the will."f 

1 2 1 . How do you behave to your equals? Do 
you wish to be above them, to be preferred be- 
fore them, not contented with your own state? 
Every time that you feel this desire in your heart, 
say to yourself that this was the sin of Lucifer, 
who said in his heart: " 1 will ascend.''^ And St 
Thomas teaches that the virtue of humility con- 
sists essentially in moderating this desire to exalt 
ourselves above others. , 

Do you esteem yourself above others for any 
gift of nature, education or grace? That is true 
pride, and you must subdue this by humility, 
holding yourself inferior to others, as in fact you 
may be before God. » ' 

122. How do you behave to your inferiors? 
It is towards these that you must exercise humi- 
lity most of all. "The greater thou art," says the 
inspired word, "the more humble thyself in all 
things."§ And although they are inferioras regards 
their condition of life, remember always that 

• Phil, ii, 8. f 2a 2x, qu. clxi, art. 2. J Isai. xiv, 14. 

§ Ecclus iii, 20. 

1 00 



OUR NEIGHBOUR 
before God they are your equals. "Knowing that 
the Lord both of them and you is in heaven, and 
there is no respect of persons with Him."" 

In this way you will become kind and con- 
siderate, as St Paul advises when He says: " Con- 
senting to be humble."f Do you command them 
haughtily and imperiously, against the express 
wish of God who does not desire you to behave 
to your inferiors "as lording it" ?| And when you 
are obliged to correct them, do you do it in the 
proper spirit: " In the spirit of meekness," as the 
Apostle teaches us, "considering thyself lest thou 
also be tempted" ?§ 

There is also another kind of humility which 
is false, and against which we are warned by the 
Holy Ghost when "He says: "Be not lowly in 
thy wisdom, lest being humbled thou be de- 
ceived into folly."B If you possess the talent of 
teaching, counselling, helping and doing good to 
the souls of others, and you then retire, saying, 
as if from humility: " I am not good enough "; 
or if you are in a position when it is your duty 
to correct, punish or exercise authority, and you 
abandon it from motives of humility, this is not 
true humility but weakness and cowardice, and as 
far as externals are concerned we must observe 
the rule of the holy father St Augustine: "Lest 
whilst humility is unduly observed the authority 

•Eph.vi.o. + Rom. xii, 16. tiPeterv,3. 
* §Gal. vi, 1. UEcclusxiii.il. 

161 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
of the ruler be undermined amongst those who 
ought to be submissive."* 

Much as I should praise you for regarding 
yourself as inferior in merit to all those below 
you " in the knowledge of your heart," as St 
Gregory says so well; yet it must not be to the 
detriment of your office, lessening its superiority. 
For being in a superior position does not prevent 
you from being humble of heart; but this humi- 
lity must not be an impediment to .the exercise 
of your authority. 

The quotation from St Augustine is referred 
to by St Thomas: " In secret look upon others 
as your superiors to whom in public you are 
superior."! , 

123. We have to practise two kinds of humi- 
lity to all our neighbours— oneis of knowledge, - 
the other of affection. The humility of know- 
ledgeconsistsinrecognizingandholdingourselves 
in our inmost soul to be inferior to all, and that 
is why Jesus Christ advises us in His gospel to 
take the lowest place: "Sit down in the lowest 
place.";): He does not tell us to sit down in a 
place in the middle, nor in one of the last, but 
in the last; that is we ought to have such an 
opinion of ourselves that we must esteem our- 

• "Neapud eos quosoportet esse subjpctos.'duni nimium 
servatur huinilitas jregendi frangatur auctoritas " (In Reg.) 

t " Existimate alios in occullo superiores, quibu^estis 
in manifesto majores " (2a 2a:, qu. clxi, art. 6 ad 1). 

% Luke xiv, 10. • 

.162 »,, 



OUR NEIGHBOUR 
selves inferior to all, as St Bernard exclaims: 
"That thou shouldst take thy seat alone and 
least of all, not only not putting thyself before 
others, but not even daring to compare thyselt 

with others."* * . 

The reason is that you do not know but that 
those whom you deem inferior to yourself, and 
above whom you exalt yourself, may not be tar 
more dear to God, and be placed hereafter at the 
right hand of the Highest. 

The truly humble man believes that every one 
is better than himself, and that he is the worst 
* of all. But are you really humble like this in 
your own opinion? You easily compare yourselt 
with this one and that one, but to how many do 
you not prefer yourself with the pn<Jf °* the 
Pharisee: "I am not as the rest of men. t Wnen 
you prefer yourself to others it often seems as 
if you speak with a certain humility and modesty, 
sayum: By the grace of God 1 have not the vices 
of such an onefBy the grace of God I have not 
committed so many grievous sins as such an one. 
But is it really true that you recognize that you 
owe all this to the grace of God, and that you give 
Him the glory rather than to yourself? It you 
esteem yourself more highly than such an one, 
and if he in his turn esteems himself inferior to 

• «• Ut solus, videlicet omnium novissimus, sedeas, Jteque 
nemini uon dico pneponas, sed nee comprare prxsumas 
( Vm*. \j in Cant.) , 1 1-«^ xvm. " . 

- 163 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
you, he is therefore humbler than you, and for 
that reason better. If by the grace of God you 
are chaste, charitable and j ust, you must endeavour 
by that same grace to be humble as well. And 
how can you be humble if you have such an 
abundance of self-esteem, preferring yourself to 
others ? ~ 

When St Paul teaches us that in holy humility 
we must believe all others to be better than our- 
selves, he also teaches us the way to accomplish 
this, namely, not by considering the good we 
have in ourselves, but that which others have or 
may have, "each one not considering the things 
that arc his own, but those that are other men's."* 
Upon this St Thomas founds this doctrine that 
all the evil that is in man, and is done by man, 
comes from man, and all the good that is in 
man and is done by. man comes from God; and 
he says that for four reasons we may unhesitatingly 
affirm that every one is better than we are. 

The first reason is to consider in our hearts 

what really belongs to us, namely, malice and 

wickedness, and to consider what our neighbour 

possesses that is of God, namely, his innumer- 

( able benefits. The second is to consider some 

particular good quality which that person may 

have and which we have not. The third is to 

recognize some fault in ourselves which that 

other person has not. The fourth is to possess 

. • Phil, ii, 4. 
164 . 



OUR NEIGHBOUR 

a wise, fear that there may be some secret pride 
within us which corrupts our holiest actions, and 
that we maybe mistaken in the opinion we have 
of ourselves, imagining ourselves to be virtuous 
when we arc not.* . 

124. The humility of affection consists in the 
recognition that we are more miserable than any 
one else, and to love to be regarded as such by 
others. To be vile and abject in our own eyes 
through the knowledge that we have of ourselves 
is the humility, of necessity, to which we arc 
compelled by the obvious truth of it; but to 
have a sincere desire to be looked upon as vile 
and abject by others, this is true and virtuous 
humility of the heart. "This is of necessity, that 
is of the will," says St Bernard, and he adds: 
"I fear lest in some respects that he whom truth 
humbles, the will should extol."t Take heed lest," 
while you do not esteem yourself, you should 
still wish to be esteemed by others. This would 
be to love something that does not exist, to love 
a lie. .-..'. 

• How far you are from that humility of affec- 
tion! How you fear lest any of your faults should 
be revealed, and how many excuses and justifica- 
tions you make, in order that this imputation of 
a fault which you have really committed may 

* 2a 2x, qu. clxi, art. 3 in 4; dist. 25, qu. ii, art. 3 ad 2. 
+ " Illud necessitatis est, hoc voluntatis. Timeo ne quem 
humiliat Veritas extollat voluntas " (Serm. 42 in Cant) 

165 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

not diminish the esteem in which others hold you. 
In order to be more esteemed, you try to show 
your ability and talent, and if you have but little 
ability and little talent, how often you pretend 
you have more in the hope of being esteemed 
still more! 

And since, far from loving self-abasement, 
you have such a desire to gain the esteem of 
others, you belong truly to those proud sons 
of Adam, of whom the Prophet cried: "Why do 
you love vanity and seek after lying?"* Confess 
the truth to your own conscience, that you have 
more pride than humility, and that you love va- 
nity better than truth. 

125. It is this -humility of affection, this 
humility of the heart taught us by Jesus Christ, 
which makes us as little children, and enables us 
to enter into the kingdom of heaven. But what 
shame for you if, when you examine yourself, 
you find you have not even the shadow of such 
humilityl If you happen to hear that others have 
spoken uncharitably of you, and maligned you, 
are you not perturbed, disquieted, grieved, dis- 
pleased, distressed? How you resent it when you 
think some one has wronged you or not treated 
you with proper respect! Are you suspicious, 
easily offended, and punctilious about all things 
that concern your honour and dignity? I am not 
speaking now of that honour which is founded 

• Ps. iv, 3. 
166 



OUR NEIGHBOUR 
on virtue, but of that despicable honour which 
depends on the opinion of the world. What value 
do you set upon this honour? Do you take 
offence easily, considering yourself injured by 
every little adverse word, every slight that you 
receive from others, becoming angry and irrita- 
ted, nourishing aversion and rancour, demanding 
humble apologies and satisfaction, and showing 
yourself unforgiving,irreconciIable towards them: 
fearing to lose your dignity, if you consented to 
make peace like a good Christian? If such be 
the case, where is your humility, either of know- 
ledge or affection, which is necessary for your 
salvation? 

126. In order to know to what extent you 
are lacking in humility, examine yourself from 
this point of view. The humble man not only is 
not angry with those who offend him, but loves 
them and gives them back good for evil. Yes, it 
is indeed so, because he looks upon them as 
instruments of the mercy and justice of God, 
and he is also persuaded that his sins and in- 
gratitude towards the divine Goodness deserve 
far worse punishment. And you? 

The humble man, when he hears that people 
are speaking ill of him, is not disturbed, but 
quiedy learns to amend his ways, even though 
he may not have committed the faults of which he 
has been accused. He does not lament, as if he 
were persecuted: he does not say that those who 
v 167 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

speak thus of him arc malignant and jealous 
rivals; but he believes that they know him better 
than he knows himself. Do you do this? 

The humble man, when he is reproved, receives 
the correction in good part, and thanks him who 
has had the kindness and goodness to give it. 
He does not judge or speak evil of any one, be- 
cause he believes that every one is better than he 
is, and because he knows he is capable of doing 
worse things still. He lives in peace with all and 
respects all and, without expecting to be honoured 
himself, he is the first to honour others, as the 
holy apostles Peter and Paul have commanded: 
"Having peace with all men."* "With honour 
preventing one another."! "Honour all men."J 
And you — what can you say of yourself? '. 

Perhaps you may imagine that these things 
are points- of perfection; but they are points of 
humility, which, as far as you are concerned, may 
be of precept. When it is a question of humility, 
I should not like you to imagine that you need 
only reach that point which is absolutely neces- 
sary for you, without going a single hair's breadth 
beyond it. . 

When you say to yourself, " I am not obliged 
to do this or that act of humility," it may be that 
you are making a great mistake. However much 
your exterior humility must be directed by pru- 

•Rom. lit; 18. t Ibid, ii, 10. 

1 1 Pet. ii, 17. ' 

168 



OUR NEIGHBOUR 
dence, you certainly cannot dispense with the 
interior humility of the heart. 

127. If the humble man becomes aware that 
he has offended or injured his neighbour, he 
immediatelyhumbleshimself,apologi2csandasks 

to be forgiven, manifesting sorrow tor the offence 
he-has given. The humble man always fears to 
be dictatorial when carried away by hts zeal, and 
therefore proceeds with much circumspection, 
exercising his 7.cal more on himself than on 
others. He gives his opinion modestly, and sub- 
mits it to that of others without obstinacy. But 

you? 1 — 

The humble man respects and reverences 
those above him, and he is kind and courteous 
to the poorest of the poor; and in this he : only 
follows the teaching of the Preacher: J' Make 
thyself affable to the congregation of the poor, 
and humble thy soul to the ancient. * Is this the 
way in which you generally behave? 

The humble man does not seek to appear 
humble by affectation of manner; on the contrary, 
if he knows that others believe him to be humble, 
he feels a painful confusion. His nature is to be 
sincere, simple and straightforward. He is 01 
lowly bearing, «and lowly too has he kept his 
human caprices and his pride. He is nffl hart 
and haughty, but gende, reverent and obedient. 

And you?. 

• Ecclus W, 7. 

169 






HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

Ah, try and realize how backward you arc in 
the school of Jesus Christ I He came to teach 
you one single lesson, that of humility: "Learn 
of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart." 
And how have you profited by this lesson 
•hitherto? You will reply that many of these 
practices seem very difficult to you; but say to 
yourself: "The impure find it difficult to live in 
chastity, the avaricious find it difficult to give 
alms, and in the same way the proud man finds 
it difficult to practise humility." It is not that 
humility be difficult of itself, but it is your pride 
that makes it difficult, and we may. say with 
Eusebius: "You make the yoke of the Lord 
heavy for yourselves."* 

* " Jugum Domini ipsi vobis facitis grave " (/lorn, de 
Machab.) 



170 



Examen on Humility towards Oneself 

RICHARD of St Victor* defines humility as 
the interior contempt of oneself. Examine 
a little whether you have this feeling towards 
yourself. When you have dreams of dignity and 
honour, and you imagine yourself in the midst 
of grandeur and chimerical honours, how do you 
behave in these proud and vain imaginings? Do 
you rejoice and delight in them, desiring to 
dwell in them more and more? If we love hu- 
mility we must treat these dreams of worldly 
ambition and pride with disdain and hatred, just 
as those who love chastity treat impure thoughts. 
We ought to pray thus with King David: "Let 
not. the foot of pride come unto me," because 
pride first enters into the soul through the 
thoughts of the mind, and he who accustoms 
himself to delight in these thoughts has already 
formed the bad habit of pride in his heart. 

129. Do you forget your own nothingness. 
Have you any self-esteem ? If such be the case 
you are a seducer, a deceiver of your own self, 
because, as St Paul says: Whoever believes him- 
self to be something " deceiveth himself, t Do 

• " Humilis est qui seipsum apud semetipsum veraciter 
contemnit " (lib. 2, cap. xxiii, De Epul. inter Horn.) 
\ Gal. vi, 3. 

*7» 



Li! 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
you delight and glory in your knowledge, your 
power, your riches, or in some other gift natural 
or moral? Remember the word God spoke by the 
Prophet Jeremiah: "Let not the wise man glory 
in his wisdom, and let not the strong man glory in 
his strength, and let hot the rich man glory in his 
riches."* And again by St Paul: "We ought not 
to please ourselves." f . ■ 

This delight and glory insinuates itself in- 
sensibly, but he who is humble notices it quickly 
and repels it as being nothing but vanity and 
only puffing up and filling the heart with pride. 

In the same way with the spiritual life. Do 
you think yourself virtuous because you some- 
times do a litde good? You would do well then 
not to regard yoursejf as good, but to imagine 
yourself in Jerusalem repudiated by God, be- 
cause, as the prophet said, thou art "trusting in 
thy beauty." £ And St Gregory says of such as 
you: H The soul hath confidence in its beauty 
when it takes some good action upon itself."§ 

The proud man dwells more willingly on the 
little good he does, on the litde devotion he feels, 
than on the thought of the evil he has committed . 
and which he does daily. He puts behind him 
the multitude of his sins, so that he need not be 
ashamed and humble himself; and he reflects 

I &'' 2 - 3 * *,*??• xv » '• t Ezec - ™. '5- 
«.;«- 5 • Cl . ai " P ulch "t"d«ne sua anima habet qua: in 
scipsadejusiaactioneprasumit" (Epist exxvi). 

172 



HUMILITY TOWARDS ONESELF 
often upon certain of his minute exercises of 
Christian piety, so as to indulge his self-com- 
placency, as St Gregory says: "It is easier for 
them to sec within themselves that which w 
pleasing to them, than thatwhich is displeasing."* 
Perhaps you also have this tendency. 

130. Humility teaches us also to hold our- 
selves unworthy of any good that we may possess, 
even to the very air that we breathe, and to hold 
ourselves worthy of all the evils and vitupera- 
tions of the world. Such are the thoughts of the 
humble man. He always keeps before his eyes 
the sins he has committed, and his malicious 
tendency to commit them again. Therefore he 
esteems himself worse than the Turks, who have 
not the light of grace, while he has also that or 
faith; wdrse than all sinners, that do not realize 
the gravity of sin, and who have not received so 
much help of grace as he has; worse than the 
Jews, "For if they had known it, they would 
• never have crucified the Lord of glory "t; worse 
even than the demons, who sinned only once 
in thought, whilst he has sinned so often even 
in action. But do you ever stop to consider these 
things seriously? ' - ' ■ '. 

[31. Do you place yourself m dangerous 
occasions, saying: "I will not fall into sin, thus 
presuming too much on your own strength . 

• " Plus cis mtueri Hbet quod sibi in se Puerto"™" «l ttod 
sibi in se displicet" (lib. 22, Mor. c. 1). 1 1 cor. 11. o. 

>73 






HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

St Gregory says that there is nothing further 
from humility than such a presumption. " No- 
thing in man is further removed from humility 
than reliance upon his own virtue." * Are you 
disturbed and agitated at the thought of the 
faults you commit, and of your slow progress in 
acquiring virtue? This is pride, and comes from 
your presumption in thinking you can do great 
things of your own strength. But it is necessary 
to humble ourselves and yet not be discouraged, 
but to learn of St Augustine, who says of him- 
self: "The more I lack, the more humble I shall 
be."t I shall be more humble', if I reflect upon 
those virtueswhich I ought to have, and have not. 
Are you prudent, not trusting in your. own 
ingenuity nor in your own opinions, without 
caring to ask advice, especially in matters of 
great importance? This is a great sin against 
humility, and the Holy Ghost thus admonishes 
you: "Lean not on thy own prudence: be not 
wise in thy own conceit." J And St Jerome calls 
that pride intolerable by which we give others to 
understand that we are so wise we do not need 
their advice: "Pride is unbearable, but to account 
oneself nothing needs counsel." § 

• " Nihil hominem lonijius ab humilitate facit quam pra- 
sumpiio virluiis propria;" (lib. 22, Mor., cap. iii). 

+ " Ero humifior ex eo quod mihi deest " (in Ps. xxxviii). 

t Prov. iii, <, 7. 

§ " Intolerabilis est supcrbia, existimarc se nullius egere 
consilio " (cap. i Isa.) 

174 



HUMILITY TOWARDS ONESELF 
M2.' It is necessary to be humble not only 
in one's thoughts but in one's words because the 
humble man says little, following the counse of 
the Holy Ghost : « Speak not anything rashly: let 
hy "oris be few.- To talk much proceeds from 
nrhle because we are persuaded that we know a 
Treat deal and we wish to impress our thoughts 
and opinions on the minds ot others. 

Are you careful in speaking not to say any- 
thing in your own praise, or anything that might 
ausf you to be praised by others, not to appear 
learned, wise or spiritual, ostentatiously display- 
ing your personal advantages or those that belong 
to your family? It is easy in these things for you 
tc/be dominated by pride, and holy Tobias 
warns us, saying: ".Never suffer pride to reign 
in thy mind or in thy words, t 

Do you sometimes set yourself up as an 
" example, saying it would be well to do so and so 
as you have done it yourself? If you 1™*™* 
gift of God, do you talk about it as if to say 
« Thanks be to God, I have not such and such 
a vice; thanks be to God, I have such and 
such a virtue"? Call to remembrance the adv.ee 
• given by the angel to Tobias that it is good to 
keep hidden the secret gifts of God: "For it is 
good to hide the secret of a king. T 
B It may be that sometimes you speak 1 of 
yourself, in order that others may contradict it. 
•Ecclesv.l. tT0b.iv.14. tTob.x.1,7. 
175 



ti 
h..3 



i.i 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
This is the way of him of whom it is said 
"There is one who hunihlcth himself wickedly,"* 
who pretends indeed to flee from praise, yet seeks 
it, to flee from honours and courts them. You 
must accustom yourself not to speak either ill 
or well of yourself, because it is easy for pride 
to inspire your words in cither case. 

133. When you hear yourself praised, what 
precautions do you take? Self-love is quick to 
minglesome grain. of its own incense with that 
which it receives from others. I mean by this* 
that through the corruption of our nature we are 
very ready to approve these praises as if they 
were truly and justly due to us, and to flatter 
ourselves with vainglory; but all this comes 
from want of humility. St Augustine, speaking 
of this pleasure which we derive from being 
praised, addresses this prayer to God: "Lord, 
put this folly far from me,"t for he held it as a 
real madness to take pleasure in vanity and de- 
ceits; and when he heard others' praise him, he 
pondered upon the knowledge he had of him- 
self and upon the justice of God, saying in his 
own heart: " I know myself better than they 
know me, but God knows me better than I know 
myself."J • 

• Ecclus x)x, 23. 

r,J/!7, nSaniam ist » m ' Domi "e. longe fac a me " (Lib. 10, 
Confess., cap. xxxvii. . 

ego ' ; '(S^: n ,^ s , n x °xv) qUara iHe : SCd n,e,iUS Deus ^ uara 
'176 



HUMILITY TOWARDS ONESELF 

A heart that is truly humble, says Saint 
Gregory, always fears to hear its own praises, 
because it fears that this praise may either be 
false or may rob it of the merit and reward 
promised to true virtue. " If the heart is truly 
humble, the good that it hears of itself it either 
fails to recognize or fears lest the hope of future 
title to reward be changed for some passing 
favour."* 

The humble man, says St Thomas, is amazed 
when any one speaks well of him, and there is no- 
thing that astonishes him more than to hear him- 
self praised. Thus the Blessed Virgin, when she 
heard from the Archangel Gabriel that she was 
to become the Mother of God, had such a lowly 
opinion of herself that she marvelled greatly 
that she should be exalted to such an eminent 
dignity. " To a humble soul nothing is more 
wonderful than to hear its own excellence; thus, 
to Mary's saying, 'How shall this be?* the 
angel brings forward a proof, not to take away 
her belief but rather to dispel her wonder."f 

But pride may even insinuate itself into this 

• " Si cor veraciter humile est, bona, quae de se audit, 
aut tninime recognoscit aut pavet ne spes futuri muneris in 
mercedem perrnutetur transitorii favoris" (Lib. 22, Moral. 
c. iii). 

t " Animas humili nihil est mirabilius quam auditus suae 
excellentias. Sic Marir respondent!: Quomodo fiet istud? 
Angelm probationem inducit, non ad auferendam mfidehta- 
tem, sed raagis ad removendara admirationem " (3 part., 
qu. xxx, art. 4). 

177 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

very contempt of praise, as St Augustine says: 
"A man is often foolishly proud of his own 
foolish contempt of himself."* 

But if it be necessary for us to praise those 
who are present, it is not less necessary to exer- 
cise discretion and prudence in so doing, as St 
Augustine also teaches: "Lest the most danger- 
ous temptation be found in the love of giving 
praise, j 

Adulation is always pernicious, whether we 
adulate ourselves or others. 

134. One can also sin against humility by the 
pomp and vanity of one's attire. This is what 
Queen Esther calls "the sign of my pride and. 
glory,";}; and we must' keep our hearts detached 
from such love because such attire is only right 
when it is suited to our state and condition, and 
when we wear it with the right intention: "Glory 
not in apparel at any time,"§says the Holy Ghost. 

However beautiful t^e apparel you wear may 
be, do not allow vainglory to enter your heart; 
and if you have to appear in public in state, 
guard yourself against vanity, "and be not exalted 
in the day of thy honour." || 

Excess, self-complacency, the desire to please, 
to attract attention to oneself, to be above one's 

• " Saepe homo de ipso vano contemptu vanius Rloriatur " 
(Lib. 10). ; 

t " Ne tentatio periculosissima in amore laudis immit- 
tatur." 

t Esther xiv, 16. § Ecclus xi, 4. || Ibid. 

178 



HUMILITY TOWARDS ONESELF 
equals, or to equal one's superiors by the gor- . 
geousness of one's attire, are thing? to be mode- 
rated and subdued by humility. St Thomas gives 
an excellent rule for this: "Extravagance in 
sumptuous apparel is to be restrained by hu- 

011 'These necessities which we deem essential 
for the decorum of our state must have their 
limits prescribed by-Christian modesty and sim- 
plicity, and not by pride or the luxurious ten- 
dency of the times. And the vanity with which 
our grace of bearing or beauty of face inspires 
us must also be restrained by humility ^because 
"favour is deceitful and beauty is vain, t 

1 3 c. As to certain exterior actions, indifferent 
in themselves, but which if done with a good 
intention can tend to make us virtuous, the one 
necessary thing is to have a care that they be 
performed with humility, as Christ teaches^ us : 
«1 will be little in my own eyes. J: This is 
what each of us should say to himself, with holy 
King David, and it helps us greatly to form this 
good habit of humility towards ourselves, in 
order that we may also be humble to others. 

This is why I Avish you to apply yourself 
with all diligence to this examen. What concep- 
tion and esttem have you of the virtue of hu- 

• •• Superabundant in exterioribus sumptibus ^per hu- 
milkatem est reprimenda " (aa 2aB.qu.cU1, art. 2;. 
t Prov. mi, jo. t 2 Kings vi, 22. 

179 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

mility? Do you really believe that humility of 
heart is necessary for your eternal salvation? You 
know that it is necessary to believe firmly in the 
mystery of the Holy Trinity, and that whoever, 
doubts it is a heretic; but you must know that 
it is also necessary to believe with equal firmness 
the doctrine of humility taught by Jesus Christ 
in His gospel, because we cannot affirm that in. 
the gospel one doctrine is more true than another, 
nor that one must believe one more than another, 
because they all proceed equally from the mouth 
of Jesus Christ, who is the very Truth. 

If therefore you believe in this dogma of 
humility, how do you apply it to yourself, and 
what measures do you take in order to be 
humble? Do you ask it of God? Do you have 
recourse to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin 
and of the saints? Do you make yourself familiar 
with those thoughts which are most efficacious 
to teach you this humility — the thoughts of 
death, judgement, hell, paradise and eternity, 
the grievousness of sin and, above all, the Passion 
of Jesus Christ? 

I am perfecdy certain that you will never 
attain to this humility if you neglect these means 
which are the most appropriate by which to 
acquire it; and if you have not been humble of 
heart, how can you ever justify yourself before 
the tribunal of God? 

Impress upon your mind this beautiful pas- 
180 



HUMILITY TOWARDS ONESELF 
sage which St Augustine left to his friend 
Dioscurus: « Do not depart, O Dioscurus, from 
the royal way of humility which was taught by 
Christ; although many other virtues are com- 
manded by the Christian religion, study to give 
humility the highest place, because al virtues 
arc acquired and maintained by humility, and 
without humility they vanish away." * 

•«lesu Christi. oro lr. mi Dioscure. ut lota jjietate 
subdas velim. nee aliam tibi ad capessendam ventatem 
"am mSSquS. qu* ab Mo munlta est: ea est au.em 
humilitas" (EJisf. cxiii). 



l8l 



1 It 

Hi 



i. ■' 

H 

M 

iiii 

I !;■ ! 

! V • ) 



Moral Doctrine 

0# $t Vice of Pride y and the best Use to be made of 
the Practical Examen 

SAINT THOMAS* defines pride as an in- 
ordinate affection against right reason, by 
which man esteems himself and desires to be 
esteemed by others above that which he really is; 
. and as this affection is opposed to right reason- 
ing, it is certainly a sin which partakes of the 
gravity of a mortal sin, because it is in direct 
opposition to the virtue of humility, and Saint 
Paul puts the proud in the same category as 
those whom " God delivered up to a reprobate 
sense and are worthy of death," f although some- 
times it is only a venial sin, when the reason is 
not sufficiently enlightened or there is not full 
consent of the will.J 

137. Pride is placed among the deadly sins, 
because it is from pride that so many other sins 
are derived, and that is why St Paul, seeing the 
innumerable wickednesses of the world, ' called 
them to the notice of his disciple ' Timothy, 
saying: "Look how many are haughty, proud, 
blasphemers, disobedient to parents," § without 

* " 2ae, qu. clxii. art. 1. t Rom. i, 28,32. 

X D. Th., loc cit., art. 5. § Tim. Hi, 2 
182 



MORAL DOCTRINE 
love for their neighbour or for God. From whence 
do you suppose all these vices derive their origin? 
This is the source: the inordinate love which 
every one has for himself. "Men are lovers of 
themselves." This is the explanation which St 
Paul gives to it, and as St Augustine observes, 
" All these evils flow from the source which jie 
first mentions — self-love,"* and as the same saint 
says, "This excess of self-love is only pride." 

Therefore we can conclude from this that who- 
ever overcomes pride overcomes a whole host of 
sins; according to the explanation given by St 
Gregory} of this text of job: "He smelleth the 
battle afar off, and the shouting of the army."! 
138. Pride holds the first place among the 
deadly sins, and St Thomas not only places it 
amongst the deadly sins, but above them, as 
transcending them all, the king of vices which 
includes in his cortege all the other vices, there- 
fore it is called in holy Scripture: "The root of 
all evil,"§ "The beginning of all sin." I! because 
as the root of the tree is hidden under the earth 
and sends all its strength up into the branches, 
so pride remains hidden in the heart and secretly 
influences every sin through its action. Therefore 
whenever we commit a mortal sin, wearein reality 

• " H*c omnia mala ab eo veluti fonte mana£t quod 
primum posuit seipsos amantes" <tr. 123 ™ J°- llb - IV « m 
Civ. Dei, c. xiii). 

tLib.3!,Jjfer.c.xvii. J Job km, 25- 
S i Tim. vi, 10. Htcclu3x.i5. 

183 



»# 



•r ■» 






HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

opposing arid directing our own will against the 
will of God. 




say ot pnc. 
the greatest of all sins, because the proud rebel 
against God, setting themselves in opposition to 
God, nor do they mind displeasing God in order 
to please themselves, leaving the All to attach them- 
selves to their own nothingness, as St Augustine 
,says: "Abandoning God, he seeks his own will, 
and by so doing draws near to nothingness, hence 
the proud according to Scripture are called doers 
of their own will/'f which is to say with St Paul: 
"Lovers of themselves." And the same holy 
father J makes this reflection, that even venial sins 
committed more from frailty than from malice 
may become mortal if they are aggravated by 
pride. "Sins creep in through human weakness,, 
and although small they become great and heavy 
if pride adds to their weight and measure." J 

But since God has sworn to detect this vice: 
"The Lord God hath sworn by His own Soul, 
I detest the pride of Jacob,"§ what wonder is it 

'.. ,? , !5 to ,» Deo > qu^rit sibi placere et nihilo propin- 

qn V e .. c^ b * IV * De Civ - Dei > ca P- xiv )' 
, X Subrepunt ex humana fragilitate peccata; etquamvis 

j parva eadem ipsa fiunt magna et gravia, si eis superbia 

| ', . J| 1 a crem entumetpondusadjecerit ,, (Z»*. < f<r^«c/'a Virginit. 

§Amosvi, 8. 

V . i8 4 



MORAL DOCTRINE" 

that He should punish it more than all vices? St 
Augustine remarks with singular force that 
amongst all the sins by which sinners fall, none 
is so great, so ruinous, or so grave as that of pride. 
"Amongst all the falls of sinners none is so great 
as that of the proud."* 

139. Let us now consider wherein lies the 
terrible danger of this vice. (1) Because while all 
other vices destroy only their opposite virtues, as 
wantonness destroys chastity, greediness tempe- 
rance, and anger gendeness, etc., pride destroys 
all virtue, and is according to St Gregory like a 
cancer which not only cats away one limb but 
attacks the whole body : "Like a widespread pes- 
tilential discase."t 

(2) Because the other vices are to be feared 
only when we are disposed to evil; but pride, 
says St Augustine, insinuates itself even when 
we are trying to do good. "Other vices are to be 
feared in sins, pride is to be feared even in good 
. deeds." J And Saint Isidore says: "Pride is worse 
than ever)* other vice from the fact that it springs 
even from virtue and its guilt is less felt."§ 

•"Inter omnes homines peccantium lapsus nulla est 
graviorquamsuperborumruina" (Ps. xxxv). 
'■ + " Quasi generalis ac pestifer morbus (lib. xxxiv, 
ifor., tap. 18). . ' ,. 

I Cetera vitia in peccatis; superbia etiam m recte tactis 
timenda est" (Epist. cxviii). 

$«'0mni vitio superbia deterior est eo quod de opere 
vittutU exeritur rainusve ejus culpa seniitur * {LiD.de Summ. 
Bono). 

185 



i). 
lit 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART- 

(3) Because after having fought against and 

overcome the other vices wc may justly rejoice, 

but as soon as we begin to rejoice that we have 

triumphed over pride it triumphs over us, and 

I ; i ■{ . becomes victorious over us in that very act for 

which we are praising ourselves for conquering 

l\l it. St Augustine says: "When a man rejoices 

I i that he has overcome pride, he lifts up his head 

i I: for very joy and says: Behold, I triumph thus 

I* because thou triumphest."* * 

I; ; , (4) Because if the other vices are of quick 

! • growth, we can also rid ourselves of them quickly; 

I but pride is the first vice we learn, and it is also 

! ; the last to leave us as St Augustine says: f "For 

, I those who are returning to God, pride is the last 

j: [ • thing to be overcome, as it was the first cause of 

their leaving God." 

' (5) Because as we have need of some special 

H grace of God in order to enable us to do any of 

! 1 those good works that pertain to our eternal 

' I salvation, so there is no vice which prevents the 

[| influx of grace so much as pride; because "God 

;I;| resists the proud."J 

! ! . (6) Because pride is the characteristic and 

\l mostsignificantsignofthereprobate,asStGregory 

; I * " Ubj laetatus fuerit homo se superasse superbiam ex 

§ ! ipsa laetitia caput erigit et dicit: Ecce ego ideo triumpho, 

?! quia triumphas " (Aug., Lib. de Nat. et Gr. cap. xxvif). 
' \\ t " Hoc est ultimum redeuntibus ad Deutn quod recedenti- 

! bus primum fuit " (Enarr. 2 in Ps. cxviii). 
I : J James iv, 6. . 

U * * 186 



MORAL DOCTRINE 
says: "Pride is the most manifest sign of the 

lost."* 

(7) Because, the other vices are easily recog- 
nizable, and therefore it is easy to hate them and 
to amend; but pride is a vice that is not so easily 
known because it goes masked and disguised in 
many forms, even putting on the semblance of 
virtue and the very appearance of humility; thus 
being a hidden vice it is less easy to escape from 
it, as is taught in the maxim of St Ambrose: f 
"Hidden things are more difficult to avoid than 
things known." • 

140. This last danger is for us the greatest 
of all, and all the more because we ourselves seem 
to co-operate so as not to recognize this vice, 
inventing titles, colours, artifices to conceal its 
ugliness, and studying innumerable pretexts in 
order to deceive ourselves into believing that 
pride is not pride, and does not reign in our heart 
at the very moment when it is more dominant 
than ever. 

As humility is generally called weak and con- 
temptible by the blind lovers of this world, so 
pride is called courage and greatness, and the 
proud are said to be spirited, dignified, of noble 
behaviour and good judgement, sustaining their 
position with honour, maintaining their reputa- 

•"Evidentissinium reprobomm signum superbxa est" 

(Lib. 34, ATor. cxviii). . „. „. . , „,» 

fDifficiliuscavcnturoccultaquamcognita. (£pu>.*2]. 

187 



,1 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

tion, keeping up their rank and fulfilling the 
duties of their state. What a vocabulary of vanity I 
But let us set against it the vocabulary of truth 
which was used by Job: "I have said to rotten- 

| i ness,Thouartmyfather;toworms,mymotherand 

,: | my sister."* 

•■ • If you sift these worldly expressions, you will 

!j find that the quintessence of a most consummate 

'■[ pride issues therefrom. This is indeed the only 

■ I thing I ask of you, that if you have unfortunately 

1 1 been deceived by others, you will at least not 

i \ deceive yourselves. Study to know your own ills, 

jl if you wish to be cured of them. I recommend 

i i • you only to apply yourselves to learn the truth 

I ' and profit by this advice, that if the knowledge 

f'l of this truth seems difficult to you, it is a sign 

jjl that you are proud. 

I It is StThomas himself who will convince you 
y of this. You can learn truth in two ways, that is 
[,; by the intellect and by the affections. The proud 
! , . man does not know it byhis intellect, becauseGod 
\ ; hides it from him, as Christ said: "Thou hast hid 
\\ thesethingsfromthewiseandprudent";tandstill 
p less will he know it with his affection, because no 
\ ; one who takes pleasure in vanity can take pleasure 
{' >n truth. "When the proud delight in their own 

I I excellence," explains St Augustine, " they recede 

U from the excellence of truth."J 

!• *Jobxvii,M. t Matt, xi, 25. 

: ,+ " Supetbi dum delectantur in propria, excellentia veri- 

j UUa festidiunt " (D. Th. aa 2ae, qu. clxii, art. 3). 

;' 188 



MORAL DOCTRINE 

The proud man docs not take any pleasure 
in sermons, meditations, instructions concerning 
eternal truth, in fact they are wearisome to him. 
If you discover any signs of this in yourself, you 
must at once conclude that you are proud, and 
humble yourself a Hide, O you who read this 
doctrine, in order that the eternal Father of all 
light may give you light even as Christ said: 
« I confess to Thee, O Father, who hast revealed 
them to little ones."* 

141. St Gregory and St Thomas teach that 
one can sin in four different ways by one's own 
acts of pride. The first is when we hold that we 
have any good, either bodily or spiritual, of our- 
selves, and glory in it as really belonging to us 
without thinking of God who is the giver of all 
good gifts. It is with this pride that Arfaxad, 
King of the Medes, sinned when he gloried in 
the power of his enormous army; and KingNabu- 
chodonosor sinned likewise when he boasted of 
the building of Babylon: " Is not this the great 
Babylon which I have built by the strength of 
my power ?"f In the same way the rich man 
mentioned in St Luke, sinned when he took 
such pleasure in his riches and regarded them as 
his own substance, saying: "I will gather all 
things, and will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast 
much goods laid up for many years." t, A "?' 
therefore, we may say that it is through this 

* Matt, xi, 25. + Dan. iv. 37. t L« ke xii ' ,8 ' * 9 ' 
189 






i; i ; \ 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART. 

pride that all sin who flatter themselves and 
are ostentatious, glorifying themselves cither for 
their great talents, or for their riches, or their 
prudence, or their eloquence, or the beauty of 
their body, or the costliness of their apparel, as if 
pod had nothing to do with it, and who, esteem- 
ing themselves immoderately, desire also to be 
-..;: esteemed by others. 

( ' This is true pride, because if God had given 

\ ; all these good things for our use, He has reserved 

Pi the glory of them for Himself! "To God alone be 

g lorv and honour,"* and whoever usurps this 
\ ;' glory is guilty of pride. 

i':^ And therefore we must observe with Saint 

\\ Thomas that in order to commit a sin of pride 

\\ xX -} % not "necessary to declare positively that these 

6 !> • gife do not come from God, for this would be 

H a sin of infidelity, but it is enough that we should 

[ ' g Ior y »n them as if they belonged to us, "which 

I;, relates to pride." f . 

[' ;i H2. The second way in which we can sin in 

I "!l ol } r actions by pride is when, knowing and ad- 

l j muting that we have received such and such a 

| ! : g ,ft of G °d, we nevertheless attribute it inwardly 

1 1 'J? our ? wn merit and desire that others should 

|lf do so likewise, and in our exterior demeanour 

I: \ ™ e Deha ve as if we had indeed deserved to receive 

! these g ,fts - It wasthus^hatLucifersinned through 

If ••iTim.j, 17. 

U t " Quod P ertin etadsuperbiani"(aaax < qu. clxii). 



^M* 
**"*^ 



MORAL DOCTRINE 

pride; for being infatuated with his own beauty 
and nobility, and although he recognized that 
God was the author of it all, he nevertheless had 
the presumption to think that he had merited it 
himself and was worthy to sit beside God in the 
highest heaven, "1 will ascend into heaven."* 

And, therefore, St Bernard reproves him, say- 
ing: " O proud soul, what work hast thou done 
that thou shouldst take thy rest?"t What hast 
thou done, O bold one, to deserve such an 
honour? And it is thus that those reprobates 
sinned through pride to whom allusion is made in 
Luke xvii, 9, who, like the Pharisee, gave thanks 
to God for the good they did and the evil they 
left undone: « O God, I give Thee thanks," etc.; 
but yet, at the same time, they had the pre- 
sumption to consider themselves of singular 
merit, "trusting in themselves." 

Thus all those who sin by presuming that 
they have deserved any good whatsoever of God 
are convicted of pride, "because by attesting to 
their own merit they make God a debtor of this 
grace, which would no longer be grace if we had 
deserved it. Wc may well be permitted, with 
Job, to say that by our sins we have deserved 
God's anger and every kind of evil: "Oh, that 
my sins, whereby I have deserved wrath, were 
weighed in a balance";]}: but we cannot say that 

• Isai. xiv, 13. . . ,„ 

+ " O irapudens, quid laborasti ut jam sedeas? 
tjobvi, 2. 

191 



rl 



ft. 



if 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
we deserve grace or any good, as St Paul says: 
It by grace it is not now by works, otherwise 
grace is no more grace." 

And each one of us should say with the same 
fumble St Paul, "By the grace of God I am what 

u m ' ./ am nch » noble » sane » or possess any 
other gifts, it all comes from God who has made 
me thus, not because of my own merits, but solely 
through His own mercy and goodness. Whether 
1 abstain from evil or whether I do good, I owe 
it all not to my own merit, but to the grace of God 
who assists me with His mercy; "By the grace of 
God I am what I am." And any one who ascribes 
what he_is or what he has to his own merits, is 
guilty of pride, and appropriates to himself what 
he ought to give to the mercy and grace of God. 
Therefore holy Church wisely ends her prayers 
with these words: ''Through Jesus Christ our 
J^>rd, etc. And. by this we protest to the divine 
Majesty that we ask the gifts mentioned in those 
prayers through the merits of Jesus Christ, and 
that,if ourprayersareheard, itwill onlybe through 
the merits of Jesus Christ. . 

This is a point which is worthy of all attention 
so that we may not fall through inadvertence into : 
most terrible pride. And St Augustine urges us 
to rememoer that not only all the good we have 
comes from God, but also that we have it only 
through His mercy and not through our own 
* i Cor. xv, io. 
192 



MORAL DOCTRINE 
merits.^ "When 'a man sees that whatever good 
he has is from the mercy of God and not from his 
own merits, he ceases to be proud."* 

143. The third way in which we can sin 
through pride is when we attribute to ourselves 
some good— of any kind whatsoever— which we 
do not really possess, but whether it be that we 
esteem ourselves for that imaginary good which 
exists only in our thoughts, and desire others to 
esteem us for it also, or whether we really possess 
it,or whether again we only desire to have this 
good which we have not in order to be able to 
boast of it and glory in it, all this is detestable 
pride. 

It was in this way that the Bishop of Lao- 
dicea sinned by esteeming himself rich in merit 
when he was merely contemptible; and therefore 
God told him that he would vomit him out of 
His mouth. "I :will begin to vomit thee out of 
My mouth, because thou sayest, I am rich and 
have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou 
art miserable and poor."t And it is with this kind 
of pride that all sin who either esteem themselves 
or who seek to be esteemed by others in word or 
deed for more riches, knowledge, rank or virtue 
than they really have. 

It may be an act of virtue to desire these 

' , * " Cum vidcrit homo quia quidquid boni habet de Dei 
misericordia est, non de mentis ipsius, non superbit" 
(In Ps. Uxxiv). t Apoc. iii, 16, 17. 

•93 



1 









HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
things for some honourable end, for instance to 
desire more knowledge in order to be able to serve 
holy Church, to desire riches in order to be able 
to give more alms; but to desire these things in 
order not to seem inferior to others or o acquire 
more esteem, is only pride, and oh, how few there 
are who are not infected with this pridel One for 
one thing, and one for another, almost all men 
seek to be esteemed above what they really are — 
and this without the slightest scruple. 

Sometimes it may be that the sin is not so 
grave, either because this is not a deliberate wish, 
or else because the nature of the offence is very 
slight; but on the other hand it is in itself always 
a very grave sin, because through this pride man 
no longer remains subject to that rule which has 
been given him by God— to be contented in his 
own state. St Thomas says: "This is evidently 
of the nature of mortal sin,"* and his doctrine on 
this point is that the greater the gift may be in 
which we glory, although we do not possess it, 
the greater is our pride. Therefore it is worse to 
affect to be holy than to affect to be noble or rich, 
because sanctity is a greater gift than rank or 
wealth. And the habit of excusing the sins we 
have committed also belongs to this kind of pride, 
because when we excuse ourselves and say that 
we are not guilty, we assert our innocence and 

„^'! Et .. h , oc manifestur n est quod habet rationem peccati 
mortalis (2a 2ae, qu. clxii, art. 5 et 6). 

*94 



MORAL DOCTRINE 
accredit ourselves with an innocence which we 
do not possess. And how often do we sin thus 
through pride without even knowing it ! 

And St Thomas also attributes to pride the 
endeavour to conceal our sins and so excuse and 
palliate the wickedness thereof in our confes- 



sions.* 



■/. 144. The fourth way in which we sin through 
pride is when wc use any gift we may possess in 
order to appear distinguished or to think our- 
selves better than othcrs,and to be more esteemed 
and honoured than they. Whatevergood we have, 
whether of body or soul, of nature, fortune or 
grace, is a gift of God, and to use these gifts in 
order to try and be more conspicuous than others 
is pride. 

It is with this pride -that the Pharisee in the 
Temple regarded his own goodness, and placed 
himself above others, especially the publican. 
"I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, 
adulterers, as also is this publican." f He esteemed 
himself above all, and was in reality the proudest 
of all. It was with this pride, too, that the dis- 
ciples sinned when they glorified in their singu- 
lar gift of being able to cast out devils: "And they 
returned withjoy, saying: 'Lord, the devils also 
aresubject to us,* "$ andour blessed Lord answered 
them most justly: "1 saw Satan like lightning 
falling from hcaven,"as if He almost meant to say 
* Ibid.art. iv. « t Lukesviii, 11. t Luke 5,17. 
195 



Iff! 



f.f. 



n 
w 
■<\ 

;,l 

I! 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
"Take care that you do not exalt yourself like the 
proud Lucifer, lest you fall as he did." 

St Gregory in fact makes this reflection that 
there is no pride which resembles the diabolical 
pride so much as this: This comes very near to 
a diabolical, likeness."* Whoever wishes to exalt 
himself above others imitates Lucifer who desired 
to be first among the angels and nearest to the. 
throne of God. This was the sin of Lucifer when 
he dwelt upon his desire to be exalted: "And 
thou saidest in thy heart, I will ascend." f And 
those who are always scheming for their own ad- 
vancement, and are discontented with their own 
state, sin even as Lucifer sinned: "I will ascend"; 
and we ought to guard against this diabolical sin, 
as St Paul says: "Lest being puffed up with pride 
we fall into the judgement of the devil."j 

And, moreover, weoughtalsoto observe what 
the same holy pontiff tells us, that we often fall 
into this the worst kind of pride: "Into this fourth ' 
kind of pride the human mind falls very frequent- 
ly" ;§ and there is no doubt that it is really agrievous 
sin, for we thereby offend both Godand our neigh- 
bour. And how many. men and women there are, 
both religious and secular, of every state and 
condition, who commit this sin of pride so fre- 

n -u " H ?5 simil »tudini diabolicae vicinius appropinquat " 
(Lib. 23, Mor. cap. iv). v 

tlsa.jiv, 13. * , Tim. iii, 6. 

,„;L 1 t.-. ac *"°S*rtte quarta specie crebro humanus 
animus labitur." 

196 



,;l 



MORAL DOCTRINE * 

qucntly that it becomes a predominant habit with 
them. 

Practically wc notice that all men desire to be 
distinguished in their own particular art, however 
inferior it may be,and all seek first to be esteemed 
as much as others, and then to be distinguished 
more than others — " I will ascend," each one in 
his own sphere and also outside his own sphere. 
The rich man regards himself as greater than the 
learned man on account of his riches; the learned 
man as greater than the rich man on account of 
hislearning; thechasteman esteems himself better 
than the one who gives alms, and the one who 
gives alms esteems himself more highly than the 
man who is chaste. Oh, what pride!— and yet 
few people are willing to recognize that they are 
proud. 

145. The holy pope St Gregory discerns pride 
in all kinds of people and describes its character- 
istics. Some, hesays,arcproudoftheirpossessions, 
others of their eloquence, some are proud of 
mundane things and somcof things of the Church 
and' the gifts of God, although blinded by vanity 
we are unable to discern it; and whether we exalt 
ourselves aboveothersonaccountofworldlyglory, 
or of spiritual gifts, pride has never left our heart 
because it is domiciled there, and, to disguise 
itself, assumes a false appearance. 

It is also well to know that pride does not 
tempt superiors and inferiors in the same way. 

«97 



m 



> 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
It tempts the great, by giving them to understand 
that they have attained to their position by their 
own merit, and that noncof their inferiors could be 
compared with them; it tempts their subordinates, 
by diverting their attention from their own faults 
and making them observe and judge the doings 
of their superiors; they speak nevertheless of 
and to their superiors with a certain liberty, and 
as this pride is called a rightful independence 
in them, so in the superior it is called zeal and 
decorum. 

Sometimes our pride constrains us to talk 
v loud, at other times to preserve a bitter silence. 
Pride is dissolute in its joys, sombre and raving 
in its melancholy; it seems honourable in appear- 
ance, yet is without honour; it is full of valour in 
giving offence, but cowardly in taking it; it is 
slow to. obey, importunate in its demands to 
ascertain its duty, but negligent in performing it; 
while it is prompt to meddle and interfere in all 
that does not concern it, there is no possibility 
of bending it in any direction unless it is inclined 
thereto by its own taste; and it is astute, and 
pretends to be indifferent about having any office 
or dignity which it covets, so that it may be forced 
into accepting them, loving to have those things 
which it most desires thrust violently upon it 
for fear it should be regarded with contempt if 
its desire for them were made known. This is all . 
St Gregory's teaching. 

198 



I MORAL DOCTRINK 

i.. ■• 

'.'.' 146. After considering pride in itself, it 

remains for us to observe its effects, and especially 
j eight of the more common and familiar vices 
j. which it produces, which arc presumption, ambi- 
tion, envy'y vainglory, boastfulncss, hypocrisy, 
disobedience and discord. Let us examine them 
with St Thomas. 
■ i Presumption is a vice by which we esteem 

j? ourselves able to achieve things beyond our 
p strength, forgetful of the necessity of divine 
j; help. The sinner is guilty of presumption when 
j he believes that he can be converted to God 
] whenever he likes and chooses, as if conversion 
\ ; were the work of his own free-will alone, and 
\ ! living ill yet trusts to make a good death; when 

II he sins and goes on sinning, relying upon obtain- 
n' ing ultimate forgiveness; when he believes that 
n he can of himself and without the help of grace, 
i I both withstand temptation, avoid sin and observe 
I the commandments of God, or else that he can 

; make some supernatural act of faith, hope, cha- 
rity or contrition, or perform some meritorious 
act towards his eternal welfare and save himself 
by persevering in well-doing. 

All this is beyond our own strength, and to 
i think that we can do these things without the 
j special help of God, and without being willing 
to ask this help of God, is a sin of presump- 
tion—a grave sin of that pride by which we « 
believe that we possess a virtue when we have 

199 / 



H: 



H f ■ 

If 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
it not. "O wicked presumption," says Holy 
Writ, "whence earnest thou?"* And Saint 
Gregory, explaining what that sin was which 
Job called "great iniquity," f affirmed that it 
was presumption, which is an insult to the 
author of all grace, " by which a man takes all 
the credit of a good work to himself." J 

147. Ambition is a vice which makes us seek 
our own honour with inordinate avidity.§ Now, 
as this honour is a mark of respect and esteem, 
given to meritorious virtue, and to him who is 
of superior degree, and as it is certain that we 
have no merit of ourselves, because everything 
we receive comes from God, it is not to our- 
selves, but to God alone that such honour is 
wholly due. » 

Moreover, as this honour has been ordained 
by God as a means to render us capable of help- 
ing our neighbour,. it is certain that all such ' 
honour must be used by us in fulfilment of this 
end. Two things therefore are needful to enable ' 
us to flee from ambition. The first is that we 
should not appropriate merit of the honour, and 
the second is that we should confess that this 
same honour is due wholly to God, and is only 
dear to us in so far as it can serve our neigh- 

* Ecclus xxxvii, 3. ' tjobcxxxi 28 
cap* x)? Ua S ' bi V ' reS b ° ni ° peris arro e' at " (Lib. xxii, Mor., 
% St Thomas, 2a 2«e, qu. exxxi, art. 2.- 



■}■ 200 

i 1 



MORAL DOCTRINE* 

bour. If therefore we are wanting in one of these 
two things, we commit the sin of ambition. 

He is ambitious therefore who seeks to have 
some office or position, whether in the world or 
in the Church, when he has not the requisite 
virtue and knowledge to maintain it, and who 
schemes and plots to be put before others who 
are more worthy than he. 

He is ambitious who desires to be esteemed, 
honoured and revered more than his position 
merits, and as if he were of higher rank than he 
is, to be honoured as an eloquent preacher or as 
a clever writer, or in any profession to which he 
may belong, although in reality he can ohly be 
classed amongst the indifferent and mediocre. 

He is ambitious who, withouta singfe thought 
for the glory of God, or of serving his neighbour, 
desires or seeks some worldly or ecclesiastical 
office, simply with a view to his own temporal 
welfare and for the advancement of his family, 
or wishes to gain the honour of some high office 
or bishopric, "from the love of power," « St 
Augustine says, "and from pride of place. 

Jesus Christ shows a special hatred for this 
vice in several places in His gospel,t and the 
Fathers argue from this that the ambitious man 
is in a state of mortal sin; and it is easy for the 

• "Dominandi cupiditate etprincipandisuperbia"(Lib. 
xix, De Civ. Dei., cap. xiv). 

+ Matt. xviii, 20, 23; Luke is. 12. 

201 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
most spiritual persons to commit this sin, as St 
Ambrose says: "Ambition often makes criminals 
of those whom no vice would delight, whom 
no lust could move, whom no avarice' could 
deceive." * 

The worst of ambition is that few people 
have any scruples about it, and the reason is 
that by this vice conscience is depraved, because 
it is united to this passion and seldom recovers 
its integrity.! 

148. Envy is a sadness arising from the con- 
templation of our neighbour's welfare, when we 
imagine that the good which happens to him 
must be to our own detriment, prejudicial to our 
own glory and interest; but of his goods we 
only envy those which bring us esteem in the 
eyes of the world— riches, dignity, the friendship 
and favours of the great, science, praise, fame, 
and all that which seems to -us to contribute to 
our credit and to bring us honour. 

And it is thus that envy is born within us, 
when we see one who is richer, more learned 
than we are, another wiser and more virtuous 
than we, another who has more talent and ability, 
and whom therefore we should like to see de- 
prived of these gifts in order that he might also 

Saipe quos vitia nulla delectant, quos nulla potuit 
movere luxuria, nulla avaritia subvertere, facit ambitio cri- 
minosos" (Lib. 4 in Luc.) . 

art. + 2 St Thomas ' 2a 2ae ' 9 U - cxxxi . art - » et 2; qu. clxxxv, 



202 



'■I 

-J 

i 



MORAL DOCTRINE 

be deprived of the praise and honour and any 
other advantages which we imagine arc more 
due to us than to him. 

Now the sin consists in this: that when we 
ought, from a sense of charity, to rejoice at our 
neighbour's prosperity, we are only saddened at 
it, wishing in our pride that it might be ours, 
in order that we might be superior to our neigh- 
bour in merit; and this sin is the especial sin of 
the devil, as the Wise Man says, "the envy 
of the devil," * and therefore the Holy Ghost 
most justly commands us through St Paul to 
guard against it: "Let us not be envying one 
another, | as it is easy to sin mortally in one 
way -or another. But nevertheless, how common 
this vice is in families, in communities, in every 
state of life, to high and low, rich and poor, to 
seculars, and even to the Religious themselves! 
' All this evil proceeds from a false conscience, 
which leads us to believe that envy is not a great 
sin, and therefore,' although it be a grievous 
evil, it is neither feared, nor avoided, nor do we 
study to amend ourselves of it. This reflection 
is from St Cyprian: "Envy seems a small oftence, 
so that, whilst it seems slight to us it is not 
feared; whilst it is not feared, it is d«pised; 
whilst it is despised, it is not easily avoided, and 
thus becomes a secret source of rum. J 

esse, non timetur; dum non timet*, contemner, dum 

203 






HUMILITY OF THE HEART 
149. Vainglory consists in an inordinate ap- 
petite for praisc,and a desire that our meritshould 
shine forth with glory, and in three different ways 
this glory can be called vain and wicked. 

Firstly, when we seek to be praised for a vir- 
tue or any other gift of body or soul which we do 
not possess, or else to be praised for some frail 
transitory possession which is notworthyof praise, 
such as health, beauty and other gifts orthc body, 
riches, pomp and other goods which arc called the 
• gifts of fortune. 

Secondly, when in seeking praise we value the 
esteem and approbation of one whose judgement 
is unreliable. ' 

■ Thirdly,whenwedo not use this praise either 
for the honour of God or the good of our neigh- 
bour, and this is always to sin against the dictates 
of holy Scripture : « Let us not be made desirous 
of vainglory";* and it can be a mortal sin when ■ 
we seek to be praised for some wrong which we 
have done or have the intention of doing, or for 
some other wrong which we have never done and 
have had no thought of doing; or else to accept 
praise for a good which we have not done and 
which we want to make others believe that we 
have done; it can also be a mortal sin if we do 
good only out of human respect with the inten- 
tion of being seen and praised. 

sTJKt. fadIe Vi,a,ur; et ,U CJBCa « «*«** Pemicies." 

e t lie Jn?," 13 . 8 '' 3 ^ qU> XXxiv ' art - 6 : * H u ™. ^. I 
U i, etc.; et qu. tlvui, art. 11 et 14. • Phil. JiS. 

204 



*"*" """""""■ " """ mamsmmmmmsmmmmmmmsmmmms 



MORAL DOCTRINE 

This is, in short, always a very dangerous 
sin, not so much because of its gravity as on 
account of its grave consequence and because it 
prevents the soul from receiving the help of 
grace, and disposes it to various mortal sins: 
" Vainglory is said to be a dangerous sin, not 
so much on account of its gravity, as because it 
is a disposition to grievous sins in so far as it 
gradually disposes a man to the loss of all inner 
good."* 

He who suffers from vainglory is in danger 
of losing his faith also, according to the saying 
of Christ : " How can you believe who receive 
glory one from another ?"f St Augustine reflect- 
ing upon this, and how little this great evil is 
known, affirms that none is wiser than he who 
knows that this love of praise is a vice: "He 
sees best who sees that love of praise is a vice.'Vf 

150. Boastfulness is a vice by which man, 
desiring to be supremely honoured above all 
others, begins to praise and exalt himself, exag- 
gerating and amplifying things so as to make his 
own merit appear greater than it is. It is also 

• " Inanis gloria dicilur esse penculosum peccatuminon 
tantum propter gravitatem. sed etiam P ro P l " h p f-^X t !m 
dispositfo ad gravia peccata. in quantum sol.ee ■P™ ] }?}™ 
disponit ad ho% quod homo privetur intenonbus bonis (D. 
Th. 2a 2X, qu. cxnii. art. 3). t John , v, 44. 
• t "Sanius videt qui amorem laud.s v «™« e^ "*!£ 
scit*' (Lib. 5. De Civ.Vci, cap xiii. See also St .Thomas 2a 2*. 
qu. xii. an. 4; etqu. cccv. ait. 1; et qu. c«*«. per tot.. 
et qu. clxxviU, art. 2). 

205 



HUMILITY OE THE HEART 

called ostentation, self-praise or frowardness; and 
St Augustine calls it "The worst of all pests";* 
and St Ambrose calls it a net spread by the devil 
to catch the strongest and most spiritual: "The 
devil lays snares such as entrap the strongest";! 
and this is a vice which is beyond measure, be- 
cause in vaunting ourselves for that which we 
have not, we lie to our own conscience and to 
God; and as God said of Moab by the pro- 
phet: "He is exceeding proud; I know his boast- 
ing, and that the strength thereof is not according 
taV$ h 

It can be a mortal sin when we boast of some 
sin which we have committed; when we praise 
ourselves, despising others; or else when we 
praise and exalt ourselves through an excess of 
pride which abounds in the heart. 
• The Angelical Doctor notes that this is an 
ordinary and not an infrequent case, and that 
the habit is easily formed. § 

151. Hypocrisy is'a vice by which we affect 
to demonstrate externally a virtue and a sanctity 
which we do not possess; and he is really a hypo- 
crite who, being full of wickedness within, pre- 
tends in his outward appearance to be good. 

• " Nocentiorcm omnibus pesti'in " (Lib. 1 De Ont. 
cap. xi). * 

■ ■ '.'. l ) j i, £ 0, . us Jactantiam prxti ndit, qua; t-tiam fortes dc- 
cipit {Lib. m Luc.) jjcr. xlviii, 29, ]o. 

§ 2a 2a:, qu. 1 xn, art 1 . Sec also 2a 2;e, qu. ex. art. 2 ; qu. 
cxn, art. 1 ; et qu. exxxii. ait. 5 ad i; et qu. clxii, art. 4 ad 2. 

206 



MORAL DOCTRINE 

There is no vice against which Jesus Christ 
has inveighed so much in His Gospel as against 
this one (Matt, vi, 7, 15, 21), condemning it 
with eight cries of " Wo unto you," which are 
eight maledictions. And St Gregory remarks that 
the hypocrites, blinded by pride and hardened 
in their sins, generally die impenitent without 
ever being enlightened, for a reason which is 
perhaps taken from St Peter Chrysologus, because 
while we can sec that the remedies to the amend- 
ment of other vices do good, the disease of 
hypocrisy is so pestilential that it affects the very 
remedies themselves, so that they only serve to 
foment and increase the evil. " Brethren," says 
the saint, " this pestilence must be avoided that 
turns remedies into diseases, medicines into 
maladies, holiness into vice, saindiness into sin- 



■J fulness."* 

t 



Hypocrisy is alwap a mortal sm when we 
pretend to be spiritual and holy, and try to ap- 
pear as such, when we are not so at heart, caring 
more for the opinion of men than for the opinion 
of God; and it is worse stiU when we affect 
sanctity in order to further our own advance- 
ment and to acquire credit in order to reach and 
to work evil; or else to obtain some honour, or 
other temporal good. 

creat rnorbos. confic.t de med.cma Unguorem, sane 
vertit in crimen," 

207 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

In this way also we sin gravely by hypocrisy 
when we show ourselves scrupulous about works 
ofsupererogationorincertainminuteobservances, 
not fearing at the same time to transgress against 
the essential duties of religion and our own state 
of life, " having left the weightier things of the 
law,"like those Scribes and Phariseeswhom Christ 
reproved, saying that they "strain a gnat and 
swallow a camel."* 

Also when in all the functions connected with 
the service of God we pretend to have a pure in- 
tention when we have it not: "And seek to please 
not God but men, not the conversion but the fa- 
vour of the people." f 

The fathers generally call hypocrisy perver- 
sity, iniquity, impiety; and it is easy not only to 
fall into this sin, but to become so accustomed to 
it that it leads us into atheism. We often begin 
by serving God with a certain degree of holy 
fervour, but when this diminishes, we no longer 
serve God but only pretend to serve Him in 
order to keep up outward appearances. "Wo 
unto you hypocrites!"^ 

152. Disobedience is a sin by which we vio- 
late the command of our superiors, treating them 
with contempt, and it can be a mortal sin even in 

* Matt, xxiii, 24. 

t '* Et quaerit non placcre Deo, sed hominibus, non con- 
versionerri hominum sed auras favorum " (D. Th. 2a 2X qu. 
lxi, art. 2). v «*•* « 

J See St Thomas, 2a 2x, qu. xi per tot. 
208 



»*»M»*fea 3 > aag 3Ba 



MORAL DOCTRINE 

small matters; because, as StBernard says, wemust 
not consider the nature of the thing commanded 
nor the simple transgression of the precept, but 
the pride of the will which will not submit when 
it ought.* " It is not the simple transgression of 
the wish but the proud contention of the will that 
creates criminal disobedience," and the grievous- 
ness of the sin can be judged under three different 
heads. 

First, the rank of the superior, because the 
higher the one who commands, the more grave 
is the disobedience. It is a greater sin to disobey 
God than to disobey man, a greater sin to disobey 
the pope than a bishop, or a father and mother 
than other relations; and it is also a greater sin to 
disobey with contempt of the person who com- 
mands, than with contempt only of the command- 
ment. 

Secondly, in respect of the nature of the things 
commanded, because when these are of greater 
importance, especially in the laws of God, the dis- 
obedience is greater, therefore it is a graver sin to 
disobey those precepts which enjoin the love of 
God than those which command us to love our 
neighbour. 

Thirdly, in respect of the form of- the com- 
mand,by which the superior expresses his intention 

• " Non jussionis simplex "ipsa transgressio, sed volunta- 
tis superba contentio criminalem facit mobedientiam [L>6. 
dt Pracept tt Dispens., cap xi). 

209 



HUMILITY OF THE HEART 

that he wishes to be obeyed in such and such a 
matter, but it is principally pride that aggravates 
the disobedience,ias the will refuses to submit as 
it should to divine law.* 

153. Discord is a discrepancy of the will 
which prevents it from conforming to the will of 
God in such matters as it ought to conform for 
the glory of God and the good of the neighbour; 
and it is a grave sin, because St Paul counts dis- 
sensions among those sins which exclude those 
who commit them from the kingdom of heaven.f 
And God declares His hatred and abhorrence of 
all those that disseminate discord among their 
neighbours.^ Dissensions arise generally from 
pride, which prompts us to over-esteem . our- 
selves and to set our own welfare and opinions 
against those of others, and from this arises the 
quarrelling, litigation, obstinacy, slandering, fac- 
tion, hatred, strife and many other evils without 
number and -without end.§ 

Recollect yourself now interiorly, and exa- 
mine yourself, and having found that under one 
or other of these headings pride really dominates 
you, judge how necessary it is for you to fight 
against it with humility, because if pride is con- 
quered, a host of other sins will be conquered 
also. And in order to give yourself courage re- 

• St Thomas 2a aat. qu. lxix, art. I ; ct qu. cv per tot. 
t Gal. v, 20. ♦ Prov. vi, 9. 

$ St Thomas 22, qu. xxxvii, art. I et 2; et qu. xxxviii, 
art. 2; et qu. exxxii; art. 5. 

2IO 



MORAL DOCTRINE 

member this, that before the tribunal of God the 
proud will be condemned, and only the humble 
can hope to find mercy. To say that we are humble 
is the same as to say that we are amongst the elect 
and shall be saved; and to say that we are proud 
is the same as to say we are reprobate and lost. 
" Pride is a sure sign of the reprobate, as humi- 
lity is the sign of the elect."* We owe this con- 
clusion to St Gregory. 

Praised be Jesus Christ. 

• " EvidentJMimum reproborura sirnum est superbia; 
sicut c contra humilttas electornm " [Horn. 7 in Evang.; et 
lib. 3, Mor. cap. rvii). 



211